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Changing the Way we Communicate
[By An Anonymous Physician]
Remember the old on-call beeper system?
Well, smartphones have changed the way people communicate. In fact, I do not know a single doctor, nurse or healthcare professional that does not have one. They let you quickly stay in touch with patients, the hospital, ER or medical clinic through calling, texting, emailing, or social networking tools.
But, a smartphone is also much more than a communication device. There are apps that help you manage your life, learn about the world around you, or simply keep you entertained. It’s easy to see why users are so impressed with their new tech, but can it go too far? So, how do you know if you’ve become addicted to your smartphone?
Here are a few indicators of concern:
It’s Always With You
One of the first steps to spotting an addiction is assessing how often you use your smartphone and how you feel when it’s not glued to your hand or resting in your pocket. Do you get nervous when your smartphone is out of sight or sitting more than an arm’s length away? Can you leave your phone in another room while you sleep, take a shower, or get dressed? You have voice mail for a reason, and it’s okay to occasionally be unreachable.
You Can’t Wait Without It
Without a doubt, a smartphone makes it easier to pass the time while waiting. You can play a game, read a book, check your email, or even catch up on some work. That’s great for sitting in your own doctor’s waiting room, but it shouldn’t become a need for the brief moments of downtime that crop up during your day. If you can’t wait two minutes for a cashier to ring up your groceries without pulling out your smartphone, you might have an addiction.
It Tracks Your Every Move
Smartphone apps often help you become more productive. You can monitor your diet and exercise, pay your bills and create virtual to-do lists. However, it’s easy to take this too far. You might have an addiction if you feel like you can’t eat, sleep, exercise, or go to the bathroom without logging it on your smartphone. (Yes, there are apps for all of that!)
You Call or Text People in the Same House
It’s easy to see how smartphones can help families stay in touch. But do you really need to text your kids when it’s time to come downstairs for dinner? Your family plan might make it free to call and text within your immediate family, but that doesn’t mean you need a fancy device to communicate when you are actually in the same house.
You Choose Your Phone Over Live Company
A smartphone can be great company when you’re bored and have some time on your own, but is it really better company than your actual friends? Twiddling with your smartphone while attempting to simultaneously carry on a face-to-face conversation is not multitasking! It’s just plain rude.
***
***
Assessment
I am not a psychiatrist by training, but if you find yourself frequently playing with your phone during social gatherings, there’s a pretty good chance that you may have a problem.
If you think you may be addicted to your smartphone, try taking a break from it. Put down the phone and give living, breathing people a chance. You will soon see that the world can be a fascinating place, even without augmented reality.
Conclusion
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Filed under: Practice Management | Tagged: medical beepers, smart phone addiction |
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Why Pharma companies fail to have an impact on the mHealth app economy
Leading Pharma companies try hard, but most of them fail, to have a significant impact on the mHealth app market. Some Pharma companies have published more than 100 apps available for iOS and Android, but have generated only limited downloads and usage.
This is one of the results of the new report “Pharma App Market Benchmarking 2014” released in October 2014.
On average, each of the leading Pharma companies has 65 apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play. In comparison a typical mHealth app publisher, releases just 1-2 mHealth apps. (see: “mHealth App Developer Economics 2014” free report).
With all these apps published, Pharma companies have created only little reach within the smartphone/tablet app user base. In fact, the leading Pharma companies have been able to generate 6.6m downloads since 2008 and have less than 1m active users. Given their position in the healthcare market, their app publishing efforts and the performance of some garage-type mHealth app publishers, this performance cannot make any Pharma company happy.
The app publishing activities of Pharma companies differ not only in size and reach, but also which app categories (e.g. reference, fitness, medical condition management) they focus on and to which degree they target private and professional users.
The Pharma app publishers can be clustered into three groups: Niche players, the Still Trying ones without considerable impact and the ones who have already had First Success.
· Niche: Niche players like Roche or Bristol-Myers Squibb use apps to support their core products. They have a higher share of apps that target healthcare professionals and which sometimes require doctor’s identification. Their portfolio size and reach is below average. The higher share of apps that target professionals might be an explanation for the lower reach. Professional target groups are usually smaller compared to private app user groups. Examples of private users they target include women, health enthusiasts or diabetics, all of which represent very large potential user groups.
· First Success: This group represents Pharma companies with a large app portfolio that has gained above average download numbers. The majority of apps target the mass market of private users. The main reason why this group of Pharma companies stands out is because one or two of their apps have a reach of hundreds thousands or even more downloads. For example, 93% of Merck’s app portfolio reach comes from three apps. If it was not for these three apps, Merck’s app portfolio performance would be disappointing.
· Still Trying: This group includes companies like Bayer Healthcare or Novartis. They are very active in terms of the number of apps which target large private user segments. Despite this mass market orientation of their app portfolio, their reach in the app market has remained low and below average. In contrast to the “First Success” players, they have not managed to bring to the market any comparably successful app. 22% of Novartis downloads belong to the top 3 apps.
Analysis and comparison of the app activities of the top 11 Pharma companies gives possible reasons why Pharma companies have not succeeded in becoming leading mHealth app publishers.
· The app portfolios are not globally available: Almost half of the Pharma companies’ app publishing entities target only local markets. This means that their apps are available only in 3 or less countries.
· The app portfolio is built around the core products of the Pharma companies and not around the actual market demand: For example, if a company specializes in the treatment of hematological diseases, the app portfolio reflects that. Apps in this case would provide references to the latest research, support diagnosis and facilitate information exchange with/between the experts. There exists an app market for such products, but there are other segments e.g. health tracking, weight loss, fitness or diabetes condition management, which attract more users.
· No cross-referencing or common and recognizable design: So far Pharma companies have not used the full potential of cross-referencing between their apps. They also do not use common style guides for their app portfolio. Both of these could improve their app visibility as well as strengthen their corporate identity in the app market.
The other reasons for the lack of spectacular success relate more to how they organize their app business. For example, the leading Pharma companies use up to 17 different app publishing entities. Such a strategy makes a globally aligned app category focus and reuse of existing concepts and knowledge difficult (e.g. Novartis publishes apps under 17 different entities).
Pharma companies should also question their role in the mHealth app economy. Is it a good strategy to develop and publish the next 700 apps in the next five years? There are other roles (e.g. mHealth data aggregator, mHealth app incubator, partnering) that might help Pharma increase their return on investment in the app market.
Link to the blog post: http://mhealtheconomics.com/why-pharma-companies-fail-to-have-an-impact-on-the-mhealth-app-economy
Link to graph: http://mhealtheconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/research2guidance-main-three-groups-of-pharma-app-publishers.jpg
Link to the “Pharma App Market Banchmarking 2014” report: http://www.research2guidance.com/shop/index.php/pharma-app-benchmarking-2014?SID=a371edc52857b546839df64d52f05a8c
Link to research2guidance logo: http://www.research2guidance.com/r2g/research2guidance-logo.jpg
About research2guidance:
research2guidance is a Berlin-based mobile app economy specialist. The company’s service offerings include app strategy consulting, market studies and research.
Contact:
Ralf-Gordon Jahns
research2guidance
+49 30 609 893 362
ralf.jahns@research2guidance.com
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