Diabetes & Iphone

Innovation by Design: Taking Cues from Apple and the iPhone Share


Could diabetes-management devices someday resemble or even interact with iPhones?

Back in 2007, Amy Tenderich, founder of the popular blog DiabetesMine, attracted national attention when she wrote an open letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs requesting that his innovative team try its hand at medical product design. The creative forces at Apple had managed to fuse functionality with feature-rich and attractive designs for its consumer products, Tenderich noted. Why then, she asked, can't that sensibility be translated to the design of life-critical devices? Although this concept of taking design cues from consumer electronics is not a new one, Tenderich's plea helped to initiate an industry-wide dialogue that is still going strong today.

In the wake of Tenderich's 2007 open letter, everyone weighed in, including my predecessor at MPMN. I put in my two cents a year later when Tenderich took matters into her own hands and launched a device design contest. And just this week, a Chicago Tribune health blog referenced Tenderich's frustrated sentiments and described some 'dream' diabetes device designs suggested by patients and inventors.

According to the blog post, Apple is still regarded as the paragon of design. However, its design influence has apparently gone beyond serving as the model for what medical device design should be; rather, a demand for iPhone apps or medical devices that interface with iPhones directly are cropping up.

This desire should come as no surprise, though. “If a medical device uses some of the same interaction metaphors as a consumer electronics product, then the medical device may be easier for the patient to learn and safer to use,” Matthew Jordan of Insight Product Development (Chicago) told me in 2008 for my editorial. “Similarly, consumer electronic aesthetics, when applied to medical devices, may make the device seem more familiar and approachable for the patient.” And what's more familiar and approachable these days than the iPhone?

The impact that iPads, iPhones, and smartphones in general have had on medical device design was actually a topic of conversation that arose when I recently visited the offices of design firm Logic PD while in the area for MD&M Minneapolis earlier this month. Brad Löhrding, vice president of product design, commented on how clients now frequently point to consumer products such as cell phones and iPads when describing what they want in their products: a sleek, modern user interface, intuitive features, and a slim form factor. Basically, they want a critical device with all of the bells and whistles of a consumer one. While we were treated to eye-catching examples from the company's product portfolio, the evolution of product design and influence of consumer electronics became increasingly obvious. These were sexy devices, sure to be fawned over by end-users. But, as Löhrding pointed out at our meeting, applying consumer product design elements to medical devices is great for marketability and compliance. But if you don't have the functionality, someone's life is at stake.

What do you think about the impact of consumer product design on the device industry? Let me know in the comments section. --Shana Leonard


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