Merck Manual Apps Valued by Diverse Users
Less than a month after their launch in the iTunes App Store, the Merck Manual apps are already proving to be convenient resources valued by healthcare professionals and consumers on the go. Both apps have received excellent reviews and are among the Top Paid Apps in the medical category.
Customer comments and reviews for the Professional Edition (App Store link) have come from a variety of sources. Rickkus wrote in the Australia App Store, “Lots of cross references and they are all linked. Just click the link and you are there. Much more information than similar medical apps I have bought, and less than half their price.” In the US App Store, Nursemedic99 commented, “If you like the Merck Manual, you’ll definitely like this app. I use it on a regular basis. It’s well worth the $30 to have the Merck with you at all times.” Before purchasing the app, a healthcare professional who works in a hospital contacted us to confirm that a WiFi/Internet connection is not needed (“we do not have WiFi in my area”). We confirmed that’s true and then modified the App Store description to emphasize that particular feature of the app. The Professional Edition app has also received positive reviews from lawyers. Jeff Richardson, an attorney and publisher of iPhoneJD.com, wrote a high quality and in-depth review where he concluded, “I suspect that many lawyers have, like me, found the need to look up medical terms, such as during a break in a deposition…the Merck Manual apps are excellent sources of medical information and it is very useful to have all of this information at your fingertips on the iPhone for quick and easy access.”
The Home Edition (App Store link), which is among the top 20 paid apps in the medical category as of this writing, is proving to be a valuable resource for consumers. In the US App Store, Kessee wrote, “Great reference too, easy to navigate, tons of info at a reasonable price!!” and Mehall7 commented, “Easy to use and well worth the price. You won’t regret buying this.” Heather Leister, TheiPhoneMom who’s been mentioned in TechCrunch on more than one occasion, wrote, “This is one heck of an impressive app” and “I’m the type that likes to go into a doctor’s appointment having done some research and love having all this medical information on my itty bitty phone.” In his thorough review of the app at Medtapp.com, family physician Dr. Jojo Ferrer noted that the app enables users to “report bugs, suggest features, and sign up for the newsletter. Kudos to Agile Partners for enabling these in-app; it shows how much importance they give to customer feedback.”
As we said in our blog post when the apps launched, we’re proud of the work with our partners at Merck on the iPhone versions of The Merck Manuals. It’s now fulfilling to see the apps starting to be recognized as valuable references for consumers and healthcare professionals alike. To learn more about both iPhone applications, please visit the Merck Manuals page.
TabToolkit was a significant technical challenge in a number of ways. By rendering out music notation in realtime and coupling it with synthesized instrument output, we feel like we’re really expanding the capabilities of the platform. We initially planned on launching 1.0 without synthesized audio, but after hearing a prototype implementation work for the first time, we realized we just had to do it.
Creatively, there were plenty of hurdles to overcome as well. We had to create our own font for the music notation display. The combination of Adobe’s licensing options and the lack of good, freely available music notation fonts made creating our own the most compelling option.
