Apple’s Expanding Into Medicine and Clinical Practice

John Martellaro of TMO writes that a recent sign of Apple’s new initiative into the medical field is seen in the fact that Dr. Liz Kerr’s title is Apple Director of Science and Medicine Markets. Another sign, we would like to add, is the number of Apps which are available that support medical practices. Apple’s Mac has an advantage in “imaging, visualization and video, along with considerable progress in practice management by third parties,” which, according to Martellaro, “makes this a natural technical discipline for Apple to add.” Dr. Kerr adds that OsiriX software has been running on Mac OS X for the last 12 months. OsiriX is one of the most advanced and broadly used Open Source diagnostic imaging viewers.

Although scientific fields don’t immediately come to mind when thinking of the average Apple user, Martellaro writes, “Historically, Apple products have found favor in all scientific areas, from astronomy to chemistry and microscopy. Apple also has considerable market share in genomics and proteomics research. Not only does Apple sell desktop computers in those disciplines, but also a small workgroup cluster of Xserves.”

Still, Apple doesn’t often showcase support for a specific scientific discipline without what Martellaro calls “specific intentions, solutions, partners and internal support.” So, the belief is that the growth Apple is anticipating into the medical markets must be quite large. Both in research and practical medicine, medicine is now one of Apple’s major growth areas.