We said that Skyscape has recently changed their business model and is now offering paid apps directly from the app store and we explained why here.
But what is interesting is that all of these new apps are actually funneled back into the mother app [The Skyscape Medical Resources, recently referred to as The Skyscape App], here’s how they guide us …
Now the question is Why? and the answer is simply, their SmartLink technology. One of the biggest features of Skyscape that makes their different resources work synergistically when they are installed together by cross linking.
On Palm and Pocket PC, there was no problem. Different titles installed in different folders and they were still cross linked to each other. But on iPhone this is not possible, you cannot jump from one app to another. That’s why whatever new Skyscape app you install is going to establish itself into the mother app and its icon will then merely function as a shortcut to the mother app, even they explicitly mention that you can now delete this icon and keep the mother app [see screenshots above].
Accordingly, we can now understand why all the new apps have a single common icon on which there is a stamp called Admit One!
As we expected and explained why in a previous post that the new Apple rules do not allow free apps which would then ask for subscriptions from outside the app store. So here’s the action started, two of the biggest medical developers started offering their apps paid right away from the app store.
Skyscape, similarly, has also started to market their subscription based titles as stand-alone apps on the app store. In fact, they have gone so furious that as of this moment there’s 29 new paid apps of their various titles on iTunes app store!
However, what’s really interesting, is that they still offer the various short and long term subscription options on the Skyscape website. Not only that, but also they still send users to their website when the Skyscape Universe tab is tapped on the Skyscape Medical Resources [they recently started to call it the Skyscape App]! It could be just a matter of time before they modify these options, but definitely before the official launch of iPhone 3.0 OS next Summer.
While for Unbound Medicine, right away they tell you go to iTunes to purchase the app and sorry there’s no free trial [see their web page] obviously they did not work out a “lite” free version of the new Handbook of nursing diagnosis.
So now let’s wait for epocrates and Pepid to join the new club and no more $$$ missing Apple pockets!
A long time Palm and iSilo hard-liner is showing strong attraction towards the new era, the iPhone…
The founder of Meistermed and all other products where you find the word meister, ICDmeister, Dermeister, and PCodemeister to name some of them.
The San Jose based MD is leaving the Palm and iSilo behind. First he started writing his popular titles on the iPhone but still on an iSilo reader. In fact, Meistermed titles are one of the biggest reason why we should ever think of buying the iPhone’s iSilo app. Then, now, he must have realized the iSilo headaches and started making a stand-alone iPhone and iPod Touch apps of the same great titles.
The first title to appear was the ICDMeister, here’s how it looks on the iPod Touch;
This is a great ICD coding app for only $3.99 annual subscription. Similar apps may reach $30! Update: the price will change soon [see comments below].
Seamless flow and unmatched rapid access to the code that we want. Search by disease, abbreviation, or by code. The home page is a great list of categories simplifying the navigation, and yes the pediatric category is there.
The native iPhone version of Skyscape has been delivered and was named Skyscape Medical Resources, a name that indicates the huge database of titles of the iconic medical applications developer.
Skyscape Medical Resources sports four free titles, these are: Archimedes, Outlines in Clinical Medicine, MedAlerts, and Rx Drugs. Yes, I know that you’ve never heard of such a free offer from Skyscape BUT it’s true they are offering it absolutely free. Click here to open up the free download page on your iTunes.
Not only it provides these lovely four free goodies but it also functions like a portal to all other Skyscape titles where we can purchase the yearly subscription [See screenshots above].
So they intelligently did not market their products separately just like what Lexi has done but instead they developed a single app that we all going to download [because it's free] and then we’ll gradually get tempted to buy the other Skyscape titles from within the app itself. [Update 04-24-09], Now apps are marketed separately but still they flow into the single app, read related post.
Other thoughtful advantages of the single app are:
1) They can send you updates in a single packet instead of having to update many titles a process which takes fairly long time for Apple to approve.
2) They can include their popular SmartLink technology enabling the users to cross link among all the installed apps a function which would have not been feasible on multiple apps.
The flow of pages and the extremely easy interface coupled with large fonts and screen and a flip and touch iPhone’s navigation makes Skyscape a real medical treasure on our iPhone and iPod Touch.
All the features we used to have on the Palm and PocketPC are there such as the history tab and the multi-indexing of each title and even you get some extra iPhone features such as zooming in by double tapping. However, some functions are still missing such as the interactive flow charts and external linking.
Currently there are 350+ [out of the total 500+] Skyscape titles that have been made iPhone ready and can be downloaded either directly from the Skyscape website or from within the Skyscape Medical Resources itself.
Before the availability of this native app they used to offer their products online through their iPhone website http://iphone.skyscape.com and if you have purchased a subscription on that website you can switch to the native version.
So no more excuses now that we have the largest medical PDA library available and up and running so we can safely get ourselves a new iPhone or iPod Touch for Christmas!
