Here’s a question for you. Did a vital piece of infrastructure for the future of mHealth applications slip into place overnight, with Apple’s launch of a new iPod Touch? The new device adds video chat features similar to those of the iPhone 4, using a front-facing camera. That means that using Apple’s FaceTime, users can place or receive video calls to iPhones or another iPod Touch, using an email address.
Over at 3G Doctor, David Doherty writes about how the new system works, and how it represents a threat for telcos. He also indicates the significance for his company’s application, introduced in the UK and Ireland six weeks ago.
I mentioned this last night during a presentation I gave with Dr Nathan Pinskier to more than 200 members of the Melbourne PC User Group on ehealth.
I wasn’t sure when I set it up, that a public talk on ehealth would excite the interest of the average punter, given that the man who might be the next Treasurer, Joe Hockey, seems to regard it as a bit of a yawn. But the response showed that there is genuine interest, verging on excitement. That might have had a lot to do with Nathan’s presentation – he even got me excited – but the presentation went well over the scheduled time, and they had to cut off questions with many more hands in the air.
I think it’s important to engage the public more in discussion of ehealth. That was one of the points, by the way, that Professor Trisha Greenhalgh made in our interview last week. We need to get the public and the third sector involved in the debate. Joe Hockey is more likely to listen if he thinks there’s some votes in it. At the moment, it really looks like the people who put governments into power don’t care. Last night proved to me that it’s not a case of not caring. It’s more a matter of simply not knowing.
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