Google allegedly is planning to unveil a medical category for apps in the Android Marketplace, according to iMedicalApps.com.
Back in early November, the website wrote an open letter to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), asking it to make a medical category for apps in the Android Marketplace. (Its current health category includes apps like "restaurant nutrition" and "soup recipes.") The letter noted that a year after Apple launched its iPhone, it added a medical category for healthcare professionals to its app store.
In contrast, Google's Android Marketplace has been much slower to differentiate its healthcare category into consumer health apps vs. medical apps for healthcare professionals. It's already been two years since Android apps launched, yet there's no separate B2B medical category.
"We've gotten multiple emails from medical professionals who use Android phones and have difficulty parsing through the vast 'Health' section to look for medical reference or medical education apps," iMedicalApps.com wrote. "So, on their behalf, we ask Google, please consider making a medical category for the apps in your Marketplace."
That request apparently fell on receptive ears. iMedicalApps.com heard from "reliable sources " that the debut might be as soon as this week, or even today.
If Google actually does open up a medical category separate from consumer health, healthcare professionals and students will no longer have to comb through thousands of apps in the health and fitness section to find useful applications. What's more, such a move could alert users and developers that Google is serious about Android's becoming a legitimate platform for medical professionals in clinical and educational settings.
To learn more:
- read the open letter iMedicalApps.com wrote Google
- read the iMedicalApps.com article
- read the Mobile Marketing Watch article