From the Business Week Article:
“. . . a ‘cool’ design factor that encourages patients to monitor their health and self-treat the disease. Just as Apple has used elegant design to competitive advantage, medical-device makers are hoping that trendy-looking diabetes devices will attract new customers and retain existing ones.”

The medical device industry has a lot to learn from Apple, but if they are anything like other electronics manufacturers, and they are, they will copy all the style and miss all the lessons. Instead they will focus on trendy colors, fashionable styles, and not the core design issues that dramatically impact our lives.

Patients do not need trendy looking devices. I have no use for a diabetes device that looks like a Motorola RAZR and is as difficult and annoying to use as most cellphones.

Yes, the Charmr has some significant customization and personality, but at the core is something much more important. The Charmr concept, as inspired by the iPod, is about ease of use, integration between devices, sophisticated user experience and innovative interaction design.

The integration that the Charmr represents should reflect the carefully integrated platform Apple built for the iPod: Mac OS X + iTunes + iPod. The glucose monitor must works tightly with the pump and be easily accessible via software. How many cellphones work smoothly with your computer? None besides the iPhone — same with the iPod vs other MP3 players. Do diabetics really want the awful cellphone experience translated to their medical device experience even if we get the cool styled form factor?

The DiabetesMine open letter and the Charmr concept project are pitch perfect calls for something more, and it will take a disruptive company like Apple to produce it, not the old entrenched Microsofts or Dells of the current medical industry.

Keep up the pressure, and thank you, DiabetesMine, for your clarion call that has launched this public dialog.