Apple and IBM unveil 8 new MobileFirst iOS apps, new healthcare and industrial products categories

Posted:
in iPad edited April 2015
As part of mobile applications and services initiative MobileFirst, Apple and IBM on Tuesday released eight new iOS apps serving various enterprises, adding new services for the healthcare and industrial products segments.




The apps revealed on Apple's MobileFirst webpage today serve a wide market spectrum including travel and transportation, retail, insurance, and new areas like healthcare and industrial products.

For healthcare professionals, Apple and IBM teamed up to create Hospital RN, an app that replaces pagers with iPhones to grant nurses access to patient records from anywhere in the hospital. The system uses iBeacon technology to automatically locate patients, while push notifications provide quick access to patient requests, lab status, safety alerts and more.




Hospital Lead for iPad makes it easier for hospitals to manage floor nurses and staff. For example, nurses can organize tasks and assign team members through a centralized system, with task prioritization and status all handled in-app. The service also supports multiple internal databases, displaying them in a single unified view.

Another iPhone app called Hospital Tech taps into a hospital's record system to give nurses real-time lab status, safety alerts, patient requests, and tasks.




Home RN provides at-home caregivers an easy and intuitive tool for managing patient records and sharing information between team members, including photos, video, text and more. Location-based services help direct nurses to a patient's home and nearby points of interest like pharmacies and urgent care centers.

For industrial products, Apple and IBM collaborated on Rapid Handover, an iPad app that helps management disseminate information like production goals, equipment maintenance updates and crew lists to incoming shift forepersons. Other utilities rely on iOS device hardware to document broken equipment and safety hazards.




Travel and transportation added the Ancillary Sale app for iPhone, which allows flight attendants autonomy to upgrade seats, make food and beverage sales and conduct other transactions while in the air. Apple Pay and swipe credit card systems are supported, as is access to a database that stores customers' previous on-board purchases.

Risk Inspect for iPad lets insurance inspectors take on-site photos and video that can be combined with analytics to provide suggestions on potential areas of risk. The system also provides underwriters access to claim histories, environmental and structural data, crime statistics and other relevant metrics needed to make informed decisions.




Finally, in the retail sphere, Order Commit for iPad lets merchants access critical business metrics, such as financial targets and sell-through. IBM's strong data analytics tools are leveraged to create comparative performance models that help merchants make better decisions.

Apple and IBM announced their groundbreaking partnership last July before revealing ten initial MobileFirst apps in December. The project is expected to yield more than 100 apps built around Apple's iOS platform.

With MobileFirst, IBM offers hardware leasing, device management, security, analytics, mobile integration and on-site repairs, while Apple helps with software development and offers customers a special class of AppleCare.

Earlier this month MobileFirst added three new apps for the banking, transportation and retail markets.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    This partnership with IBM looks like it's paying off for Apple. Professional app suites like this will only accelerate ios penetration in the corporate world.
  • Reply 2 of 30
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    The designs of these apps are really nice. I wish Apple's first party iOS apps were this nice.
  • Reply 3 of 30
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    This is probably one of the most import (tech) news items there is today.

    I hope the Apple /IBM partnership is looking at secure medical systems too. Not just health-kit type things but secure patient record systems too. The sooner all medical information is securely centralized the better IMHO. I am so sick of having to fill in the same paper work over and over again every time I visit a medical office and the potential for forgetting something and/or transcription errors are horrendous and that all assumes I am conscious!

    I'd also love to see dentists and all the other folks who still cling to decade old computer hardware systems for their patient records have Apple options. The trillions of PC numbers we are always been told about must be mostly made up of beige boxes in garages and the likes of dentists offices who I am sure are all running XP still. This is another area where a much larger iPad would be useful. I always cite musicians and graphic artists but a mounted, large iPad for the dental office, hospital X-Ray department and so on would be amazing.
  • Reply 4 of 30
    slprescottslprescott Posts: 765member
    Do we know their plans for (a) pricing and (b) implementation?

    I work for a vendor of traditional enterprise software, and for large-scale enterprise apps it would be typical to see:
    - License cost: $1 M
    - Implementation cost: $3 M
    - Implementation time: 18 months

    I'm curious to see how the IBM/Apple partnership disrupts that model.
  • Reply 5 of 30
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    Some interesting questions to consider ...


    From the 3 different perspectives -- Apple, IBM, Customer/Customer IT
    [LIST=1]
    [*] How much does each invest -- time. $ and resources
    [*]
    [*] What does each provide -- hardware, software, services and information
    [*]
    [*] Who sells what to whom -- when, how much, how often
    [*]
    [*] How are the deliverables maintained and enhanced over time
    [/LIST]

    Follow the money and find the ponies ...
  • Reply 6 of 30
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    This is probably one of the most import (tech) news items there is today.
    .

    You just grabbed the brass ring!
  • Reply 7 of 30
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    slprescott wrote: »
    Do we know their plans for (a) pricing and (b) implementation?

    I work for a vendor of traditional enterprise software, and for large-scale enterprise apps it would be typical to see:
    - License cost: $1 M
    - Implementation cost: $3 M
    - Implementation time: 18 months

    I'm curious to see how the IBM/Apple partnership disrupts that model.

    I don't know about your company's offerings, but I suspect that the AIE (Apple, IBM, Enterprise) relationship is an on-going one -- requiring continuous investment and updating of hardware, software, information and services (access to that information).
  • Reply 8 of 30
    pscooter63pscooter63 Posts: 1,080member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post



    This is probably one of the most import (tech) news items there is today.



    I hope the Apple /IBM partnership is looking at secure medical systems too. Not just health-kit type things but secure patient record systems too. The sooner all medical information is securely centralized the better IMHO. I am so sick of having to fill in the same paper work over and over again every time I visit a medical office and the potential for forgetting something and/or transcription errors are horrendous and that all assumes I am conscious!



    I'd also love to see dentists and all the other folks who still cling to decade old computer hardware systems for their patient records have Apple options. The trillions of PC numbers we are always been told about must be mostly made up of beige boxes in garages and the likes of dentists offices who I am sure are all running XP still. This is another area where a much larger iPad would be useful. I always cite musicians and graphic artists but a mounted, large iPad for the dental office, hospital X-Ray department and so on would be amazing.

     

    I agree with all your points, especially the third paragraph.  Ongoing maintenance of even current offerings in the small ambulatory area (Windows-based) can be debilitating, with significant downtime, not to mention cumbersome operations even when the systems are up.  All vendors seem to be content to charge out the wazoo for mediocrity.  Someone needs to shake this niche up... seems like only Apple has the clout to influence like this.

  • Reply 9 of 30
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    pscooter63 wrote: »
    This is probably one of the most import (tech) news items there is today.


    I hope the Apple /IBM partnership is looking at secure medical systems too. Not just health-kit type things but secure patient record systems too. The sooner all medical information is securely centralized the better IMHO. I am so sick of having to fill in the same paper work over and over again every time I visit a medical office and the potential for forgetting something and/or transcription errors are horrendous and that all assumes I am conscious!


    I'd also love to see dentists and all the other folks who still cling to decade old computer hardware systems for their patient records have Apple options. The trillions of PC numbers we are always been told about must be mostly made up of beige boxes in garages and the likes of dentists offices who I am sure are all running XP still. This is another area where a much larger iPad would be useful. I always cite musicians and graphic artists but a mounted, large iPad for the dental office, hospital X-Ray department and so on would be amazing.

    I agree with all your points, especially the third paragraph.  Ongoing maintenance of even current offerings in the small ambulatory area (Windows-based) can be debilitating, with significant downtime, not to mention cumbersome operations even when the systems are up.  All vendors seem to be content to charge out the wazoo for mediocrity.  Someone needs to shake this niche up... seems like only Apple has the clout to influence like this.

    I presume that you are referring to the small, 1-5 man, office shared by independent doctors, etc. Yeah, they are likely using networked PCs running XP and apps, written in who-knows-what language, using MS-Access for the DB.


    They could run this on Apple Macs -- but that would offer better hardware running the same-old, same-old inadequate solution.

    The components of a "better way" are falling into place for an All-Apple disruption:
    • iDevices
    • Macs
    • iCloud
    • Shared/distributed/synced reliable databases - Core Data follow-on using FoundationDB
    • Robust modern programming language - Swift

    A developer who understands the customer needs could develop a solution offering software, hardware and services that provide close to 100% availability (albeit at reduced capability).

    For example:
    • iCloud would provide the final answers with apps and updated, composite databases
    • Macs and iDevices would contain the most recent, synced subset of the database for each user (dentist, doctor, etc.)

    If iCloud is unavailable, the local Macs and iDevices can still function with their subset app and db

    If iCloud is available, but cell/WiFi is not -- if necessary, off you go to Dunkin Doughnuts with your Apple mobile device.

    When iCloud becomes accessible, all the data is automatically synced among iCloud, Macs and iDevices.


    Note: Apple's FoundationDB is flexible and fault tolerernt -- here's a short video showing moving a live, running database from one cloud provider to another ... all the while updating transactions on the db ... zero downtime!

    http://blog.foundationdb.com/hot-cloud-swap


    The design of FoundationDB also facilitates migrating from one version of the db to another while operational ...


    Think of Tim giving a Keynote while the Apple online stores are up ... Tim says that the new iPhone 7 is available ... (clicks slide) ... Today ... at that moment the new version of the online store cuts in ...


    Boom!
  • Reply 10 of 30
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post



    This is probably one of the most import (tech) news items there is today.



    I hope the Apple /IBM partnership is looking at secure medical systems too. Not just health-kit type things but secure patient record systems too. The sooner all medical information is securely centralized the better IMHO. I am so sick of having to fill in the same paper work over and over again every time I visit a medical office and the potential for forgetting something and/or transcription errors are horrendous and that all assumes I am conscious!



    I'd also love to see dentists and all the other folks who still cling to decade old computer hardware systems for their patient records have Apple options. The trillions of PC numbers we are always been told about must be mostly made up of beige boxes in garages and the likes of dentists offices who I am sure are all running XP still. This is another area where a much larger iPad would be useful. I always cite musicians and graphic artists but a mounted, large iPad for the dental office, hospital X-Ray department and so on would be amazing.

    Epic is supposed to be involved as well. Can't speak about its security but it's in use at a lot of hospital (for better or worse). IF Apple/IBM can get the Epic programmers to program for something other than Windows PCs, it would allow Apple devices of all types to become first-class users, thereby allowing medical personnel the ability to get rid of the garbage PCs they have to use for documentation. (My daughter has asked about using iPads at work but the way these are included in the Epic system is read-only, not very useful for people having to enter and edit patient chart information.)

     

    As for actually being able to access the patient information we constantly fill out, update, and fix (for each department), I totally agree fixes are necessary. I would hope some enhancements to the Health app would allow us to keep current prescription records so we could tap the hospitals NFC-compatible input system using TouchID to securely update our records in both directions. I get digital copies of radiology reports and scans (use Osirix of course) for my personal records so I have them when we need to see a new doctor. Having them securely stored on my phone and Mac is better for me than sticking them on anyone's cloud. 

     

    As for dentists, you're assuming they're actually using some kind of computer system instead of still suing paper files. My dentist actually got a digital x-ray system but I believe he still uses paper files along with a computerized scheduling and billing system. The x-ray system can deliver digital x-rays to patients but they're sent out as jpeg files instead of industry standard DICOM files. The PC that displays the x-rays for the dentist is also used for music.

  • Reply 11 of 30
    rob53 wrote: »
    Epic is supposed to be involved as well. Can't speak about its security but it's in use at a lot of hospital (for better or worse). IF Apple/IBM can get the Epic programmers to program for something other than Windows PCs, it would allow Apple devices of all types to become first-class users, thereby allowing medical personnel the ability to get rid of the garbage PCs they have to use for documentation. (My daughter has asked about using iPads at work but the way these are included in the Epic system is read-only, not very useful for people having to enter and edit patient chart information.) 

    Interesting, if true, about Epic ...

    Did some surfing and IBM is one of Epic's major competitors ...
  • Reply 12 of 30
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post





    Interesting, if true, about Epic ...



    Did some surfing and IBM is one of Epic's major competitors ...



    Did some srfing as well and there's several articles from mid 2014 about IBM and Epic combining for a DoD medical records system as well as Epic being a beneficiary of an Apple/IBM partnership. Of course, the most difficult piece of the puzzle is getting non-profit hospitals (oxymoron if there ever was one) to actually spend money on anything other than cheap PCs for its workers. I bet most of the doctors use iPhones yet they probably can't use them for hospital work even though they can be configured to work within a HIPPA environment. It's the same issue Apple getting into the enterprise. There's too much Windows garbage in use with antiquated applications that will not be easy to convert.

  • Reply 13 of 30
    rgmenkergmenke Posts: 15member
    I hope they hired someone great to write the apps, because IBM has an awful history with applications.
  • Reply 14 of 30
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    rgmenke wrote: »
    I hope they hired someone great to write the apps, because IBM has an awful history with applications.

    As I understand it, Apple and IBM developers (and maybe, now, Epic too, for Healthcare) are working together to write these apps -- and, also, working closely with target customers' IT staffs.

    There are are indications that Swift is the predominant language being used -- and feedback is being used to enhance the Swift Language, APIs and implementation.

    There is a big advantage here ... Swift can be used with long-existing, rock-solid Objective-C frameworks and APIs and can co-exist (intermingle) with current Objective-C programs. But the Swift Language, itself, is available in beta form. That means that the Language can be changed, extended or enhanced at will ... Apple even has provided a Swift Convert Utility that converts existing Swift programs to the newest version.

    In effect, the solution developers can provide direct feedback for the enhancements needed to the tool they use -- and can expect rapid implementations ... A new, better version of Swift comes out every 2-3 weeks.

    I've been working with computers since 1956 -- and have never seen the power and flexibility to rapidly develop solutions -- that is provided by this convergence of tech!


    ... I wish I could say that better!
  • Reply 15 of 30
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slprescott View Post



    Do we know their plans for (a) pricing and (b) implementation?



    I work for a vendor of traditional enterprise software, and for large-scale enterprise apps it would be typical to see:

    - License cost: $1 M

    - Implementation cost: $3 M

    - Implementation time: 18 months



    I'm curious to see how the IBM/Apple partnership disrupts that model.



    The apps are one thing and easy enough to write, but the big work is for IBM to convince enterprise customers to ditch their Windows networks and sign on to IBM Websphere platform because all these apps need a back end server. I'm pretty sure most medical facilities and manufacturers are Windows based.

  • Reply 16 of 30
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    mstone wrote: »
    slprescott wrote: »
    Do we know their plans for (a) pricing and (b) implementation?


    I work for a vendor of traditional enterprise software, and for large-scale enterprise apps it would be typical to see:

    - License cost: $1 M

    - Implementation cost: $3 M

    - Implementation time: 18 months


    I'm curious to see how the IBM/Apple partnership disrupts that model.


    The apps are one thing and easy enough to write, but the big work is for IBM to convince enterprise customers to ditch their Windows networks and sign on to IBM Websphere platform because all these apps need a back end server. I'm pretty sure most medical facilities and manufacturers are Windows based.

    Likely, the key to that is to include the patient in the equation to facilitate:
    • patient real-time access to their health records and services
    • healthcare providers real-time access to patient status and monitoring
    • do the above privately, securely -- anywhere, any time.


    On a somewhat related note:

    An old family friend is a boy named Davy (not his real name). The grandkids have known Davy forever ... church, school, sports, activities, events like NASCAR, vacations ...

    Davy was away at college where he was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer -- at the age of 20 ... at the age of 20 ....

    Davy is a very positive guy ... Davy is back home, now, starting chemo -- surrounded by very positive family and friends ...

    Davy's girlfriend put up a private FaceBook site: "Nuts for Davy". Davy's family, church and friends all got involved supporting testicular cancer and, specifically Davy ... things like a recent church event where they passed out blue ribbons (support for testicular cancer) or wore bright blue ...

    We are all supporting Davy and know he is going to beat this ...

    Thanks to that ingenious "Nuts for Davy" FaceBook site that got it rolling!
  • Reply 17 of 30
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post





    Likely, the key to that is to include the patient in the equation to facilitate:

    • patient real-time access to their health records and services

    • healthcare providers real-time access to patient status and monitoring

    • do the above privately, securely -- anywhere, any time.

    •  


    We work with a lot of medical clients regarding their PACS X-ray software and I can tell you that no one except the hospital medical staff has access to medical records. They would NEVER allow a patient to have access to that information without a legal order. Dental records are not as strict.

     

    Most hospitals don't even provide public wifi except possibly in the outpatient waiting area. The doctors all have private access but they don't want to risk the patients or visitors hogging their bandwidth as the facility needs to occasionally deal with emergencies. Not even the clerical or lab staff can see your records. They can add things to your records such appointments and lab results but no medical records can be viewed without proper credentials.

  • Reply 18 of 30
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    We work with a lot of medical clients regarding their PACS X-ray software and I can tell you that no one except the hospital medical staff has access to medical records. They would NEVER allow a patient to have access to that information without a legal order. Dental records are not as strict.

     

    Most hospitals don't even provide public wifi except possibly in the outpatient waiting area. The doctors all have private access but they don't want to risk the patients or visitors hogging their bandwidth as the facility needs to occasionally deal with emergencies. Not even the clerical or lab staff can see your records. They can add things to your records such appointments and lab results but no medical records can be viewed without proper credentials.




    Every person should definitely be allowed access to their own private medical records.

  • Reply 19 of 30
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post

     



    Every person should definitely be allowed access to their own private medical records.




    They can get a printed copy if they make the request through the proper legal process. They cannot access the private hospital network EVER.

  • Reply 20 of 30
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    mstone wrote: »
     
    We work with a lot of medical clients regarding their PACS X-ray software and I can tell you that no one except the hospital medical staff has access to medical records. They would NEVER allow a patient to have access to that information without a legal order. Dental records are not as strict.

    Most hospitals don't even provide public wifi except possibly in the outpatient waiting area. The doctors all have private access but they don't want to risk the patients or visitors hogging their bandwidth as the facility needs to occasionally deal with emergencies. Not even the clerical or lab staff can see your records. They can add things to your records such appointments and lab results but no medical records can be viewed without proper credentials.


    Every person should definitely be allowed access to their own private medical records.

    I suspect that @mstone is describing things as the are today.

    You are describing describing an improvement to the system from the patient's perspective.

    Likely, there should be an equivalent improvement from the perspective of the provider: real-time access to treatment data and monitoring of patient status.

    Additionally, aggregate data from both perspectives would provide data to analyze what treatment works and what doesn't -- to improve wellness and healthcare in general


    Of course, all this must be done securely and privately (except for the aggregate data and analysis).


    As some have said, many providers' operations are based on last century procedures that, at best, use today's tech as a file system.


    That is changing however -- and those who don't adapt will be left behind.


    Here's a bit of what the heath/wellness future can be from the recent Apple event @ about 15:00 in:


    http://www.apple.com/live/2015-mar-event.


    ... and, yes, there are some very private hospitals involved!
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