IPads Are Latest Weapon in Medical Sales (by Jon Kamp & Roger Cheng @ Wall Street Journal)
Medical-sector companies are passing out thousands of iPad tablet computers to salespeople to spruce up their pitch to doctors, and at the same time giving Apple Inc. a crucial foot in the door to business customers.
Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic Inc. and Boston Scientific Corp. are among the drug and medical-device firms making the move, while others say they are testing out the devices.
The tablet computers offer new ways to display product information or surgical-implant techniques, and help eliminate time wasted on issues that don't drive sales, according to companies. Their quick start-up times mean the salesmen can jump into their presentations before doctors lose interest.
"[The iPad] enables our sales employees to do a much better job of engaging in a really different way than we've done before," Mike Hedges, chief information officer of Medtronic, said in an interview.
For Apple, the iPad—with its quirky position somewhere between a giant smartphone and small computer—is further opening the doors to new corporate accounts, a trend that began with the iPhone. While desktop c...
