iPhone Still Making Headlines - Health Care, Education, and the Economy
As the iPhone 3GS inches Apple ever closer to overtaking still-reigning smartphone market industry leader RIM's Blackberry line, it still seems to dominate headlines.
Healthcare
On one of the many CNNMoney blogs (Brainstorming Tech) was an interesting story today noting that "Six Out of Ten Doctors Prefer iPhones". On what facts was this headline based? The fact that independent software resource Software Advice conducted a survey of 71 healthcare professionals (they solicited 700), and found that overwhelmingly physicians, nurses, healthcare IT professionals, and students all preferred the iPhone, with only healthcare administrators preferring the Blackberry.
Interestingly, when surveyed on their satisfaction of their existing smartphones, two devices scored 100% satisfaction - and neither of them were the iPhone! Alas, the iPhone came close to perfect but not quite, scoring only 90% satisfaction.
(The two hundred-percenters, incidentally, were Google phone and Palm Pre users).Education
Macworld, meanwhile (in a story we found on PCWorld, interestingly enough), rewinds things a bit from the future holiday season to the present back-to-school season. The article notes the Top 10 iPhone apps for the Back-to-School. From familiars like Google Mobile App and Amazon Mobile to more obscure but equally beneficial apps like the myHomework organization tool or the iFlipr Flashcards study aid.
There's also Documents to Go Go which makes Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 docs readable and editable on your iPhone, and a recommendation on both a mobile calculator and mobile dictionary app.
Economy
Bringing it back to the brutal battle between the top two smartphone title contenders, recent sales data showed the newly released iPhone 3GS scoring second in sales behind only the Blackberry Curve.
However - and this is a huge however - the Curve has been on the shelves since February and the iPhone 3GS only just hit stores in June. That means after being available for purchase for only a dozen days, the 3GS still managed to outsell every other smartphone besides the Curve. Suddenly coming in second doesn't look so tawdry. What's more, the iPhone 3G (no "S") came in 4th in sales.So you tell us - who's the real champ?