In January 2011 Apple Inc. announced that the number of 'Apps' downloaded from its App Store had passed 10 billion since it opened in 2008. At the same time Google's competitor platform, Android, claimed more than 3 billion App downloads since it was launched in 2009. At the time of writing Apple's IOS, Google's Android and RIM's Blackberry platforms have each around a third of the smartphone market1. Newsworthy perhaps but why is this important to medical education? This edition of eMT looks at the Apps phenomenon and its impact and relevance to medical education, in particular the ways in which the economics, focus, control and direction of educational technologies are changing.
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