Which is Better for Doctors: iPhone or BlackBerry?

A study released in July by Spyglass Consulting Group showed a surprising 94% of doctors interviewed for the study were using smartphones. Other recent studies have put overall physician use of smartphones at around 64%, with projected usage to reach 81% by 2012, as we noted in our recent “Smartphones in Healthcare” article. This puts physicians way ahead of the general public, based on 2009 statistics that showed only 42% of Americans use smartphones. Regardless of the various trends that these studies suggest, we can assert that physicians are widely adopting smartphones, many for professional use.

Most interesting from the Spyglass study, though, was that doctors are increasingly choosing the iPhone over the BlackBerry. Of the doctors surveyed, 44% used the iPhone, while only 25% used the BlackBerry. This follows a 2009 study by Manhattan Research that showed that the number of physicians using the iPhone had doubled over the previous year, but at that time, the iPhone was still trailing the BlackBerry. A blog post on KevinMD in September 2009 reported on the Manhattan Research study, but pointed out that another study by Epocrates found that medical students overwhelmingly favored the iPhone, with 45% using iPhones, compared to 12% using BlackBerrys. The author of the post posed the question whether the increasing iPhone usage combined with the medical students’ preference for the iPhone signaled that the smartphone tables were turning. The new Spyglass study suggests that this is the case.

But what’s the attraction of iPhone over BlackBerry? Which offers the best features for physician use?

An article by Iltifat Husain, founder and editor of iMedicalApps, weighs the pros and cons of iPhone, BlackBerry, and the emerging Android for physician use. He also injects a note of caution, stating that although there are currently five major platforms (Symbian (Nokia), BlackBerry (RIM), iPhone OS, Android, and Windows Mobile), “Maybe not all will survive into the next decade, but it’s difficult to imagine only one remaining.”

A summary of his assessment:

• iPhone: Pros—Best choice of quality medical apps. Cons—Exclusively used with AT&T, which doesn’t have a strong 3G connection and thus may be an issue with rural clinics or hospitals.
• BlackBerry: Pros—Great email client, security, tactile keyboard. Cons—Poor medical apps selection.
• Android: Pros—May use with a variety of carriers, better selection of apps than BlackBerry (though not as good as iPhone), Flash capability. Cons—Apps may be incompatible with older phones or when you upgrade to new phones

What are the pros and cons of your choice of smartphone?