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BREAKING NEWS & VIEWS
‘Top Doc’ Turns Diagnosis Into Paid iPhone GameWednesday, July 14, 2010 Who says b2b publishers don’t’ know how to have fun…or go mobile...or make money at it? Medical journal and book  publisher Elsevier is disproving two common myths of professional information, that b2b data is humorless and flat and b2b content has not learned to leverage the very mobile technologies its readers have embraced. In a new iPhone game for medical students, residents and junior faculty, Elsevier’s ‘Top Doc’ turns medical content into a series of illustrated quizzes that test the user’s diagnostic skills. What are those sores erupting on a person’s arm, that swollen lower neck, that caved-in chest? Darned if we know, but we sure hope that the intern working on us in the ER can pass the test. The app presents players with illustrations and descriptions of symptoms. The player must fill in the designated form with the diagnosis in a set period of time. The diseases cover most of the major body parts and draw from an on-board database of images, symptoms and descriptions. The app is also priced for the medical market at $14.99 The app scores the players on their ability to make timely diagnoses and even lets the user post their scores to Facebook profiles. In addition to the timed game, the app also lets medical students study conditions in a review mode that mimics a flash card format. “With this platform, users are able to experience and react to realistic patient encounters that require quick, concise clinical responses,” says the app’s co-author Amber Tully, MD, assistant professor of family medicine, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Elsevier developed this novel approach to professional information with an iPhone game developer Legacy Interactive. Lisa Hassbrock, head of consumer marketing, product development, Legacy Interactive, tells minonline that Elsevier surveyed medical students who were purchasing its other products on whether they would use an app such as Top Doc and they saw the potential market. “Given the cost of developing iPhone apps, and the early state of the industry, Top Doc can be considered an experiment—a relatively low risk way to gather information about the potential business opportunity, models, and market,” she says. Elsevier and Legacy Interactive are jointly marketing the product among their respective audiences. Elsevier is one of the world’s largest publishers of professional medical journals and online databases and services for the medical profession. Legacy Interactive, on the other hand, makes online and mobile games like Immortal Lovers and Murder She Wrote. Nevertheless, the games company is not a stranger to medical-based gaming. Its 911 Paramedic and Emergency Room titles blend serious medical information with play. By turning the disease diagnostic process into a simple quiz format, the two companies demonstrate that there are new ways to leverage professional content on mobile devices. In fact, the medical profession is renowned for its embrace of smart phones. The Top Doc app comes in at the high end of the fee scale for iPhone apps, even games. Generally, ambitious game franchise titles will go as high as $7.99 or $10, but Top Doc seems to be seeking a price point somewhere between business apps, which often sell for up to $30, and games, which usually sell for under $10. If you have breaking news to share please contact Steve Smith at ssmith@accessintel.com
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