It has been an interesting few weeks watching the developments in the smart phone market. With Apple launching their new iPhone 4 (with all the associated bad press related to dropped calls) to competing devices running on the Android platform to the announcement today of BlackBerry's new BlackBerry 6 operating system.
It was not that long ago that PDAs were the rage and Palm (remember that company) was the absolute 800lb Gorilla in the mobile computing world. How quickly the mighty fall in this arena. I have used a BlackBerry for the last 5 years and been an unwavering supporter because the device did exactly what I needed and managed email extremely well. For me that is important.
However with all of the new devices launching and poor browsing experience on the BlackBerry, I am beginning to question my choice. I still have about 8 months on my mobile phone contract, however I am not sure I would purchase a BlackBerry again (unless the functionality improved significantly in terms of image, video and audio management). To read more about the new BlackBerry operating system, go to Inside BlackBerry 6: Multimedia Experience
We are turning in a mobile society. Computing has shifted from the desktop (sales are dropping year over year) to the laptop and now to the mobile phone and iPad type of device.
It is not unreasonable to think that physicians will want (and demand) a better mobile computing experience to communicate with their practice team, access patient information from their EMRs, prescribe medications and use a variety of applications to track and manage cohorts of patients.
Two years ago, BlackBerry seemed unassailable as the worldwide leader in the smartphone market. This could change very quickly as consumer demands shift and phones become next generation computing tools.
I would not be surprised if in 10 years time, BlackBerry suffers the same fate as Palm and holds an ever shrinking part of the worldwide market for smartphones. In fact, it is quite possible that the worldwide leader in smartphones could be a company that has yet to appear.
There is only one thing for sure. In a fast changing industry, you cannot hold onto your laurels and feel comfortably in control. While not changing as rapidly as the mobile phone industry, the pace of change for EMRs is set to accelerate. Many of the same lessons apply.
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