8 replies to this topic

[awraynor]

I have grown a little weary of Android as of late, and the iPhone just isn't quite my cup of tea.
On a phone I have one "must have" app, it is Epocrates which is a very widely used medical application.

With all the interest in Phone 7 and 8 I have really considered it is an option, since I have been able
to upgrade since October of 2010. So I contacted Epocrates today and their response was:


Good day Mr. Raynor,

Thank you for contacting Epocrates.

As Epocrates is planning to phase out support for Palm and Windows Mobile devices, you might want to consider obtaining a new mobile device, such as an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android or BlackBerry phone. Epocrates installs directly to such devices, bypassing the computer. There are fewer issues with these mobile devices as opposed to Palm and Windows Mobile, and simpler fixes for those issues that might arise.

Epocrates does not support Windows Mobile 6.5 or Windows Phone 7 or higher, and there are not any plans at this time to support these versions of Windows for mobile devices. If you have such a device and it supports web browsing, you should be able to access Epocrates Online from that device.



I really hated to hear it as I have been intrigued by the Windows Phone interface vs. the grid of icons on
the iPhone.

Hopefully they will change their mind.

[Neophyte]

They may change their mind once the Win8/Phone8 platform gains momentum.

It is a shame, because I love my Windows Phone. However I will admit that while the Marketplace does have 100,000+ apps and most of the top apps are present, many of the specialized apps have not shown any interest. I do not know what Epocrates does. Is there an alternative or possibly a third party app which utilizes their APIs?

[awraynor]

Epocrates is a general purpose medical app with information on diseases, drugs, labs, etc. There are other apps
like it, but none that work as well for me. I certainly hope that with the presumed momentum of Windows 8
they will change their mind. Windows Phone and Surface are very attractive, but I use this app hourly while
at work and must have it.

[ikon]

Do we have a 2nd doctor in the house, or perhaps a nurse?

[HSS-Dave]

I'm surprised by this. I wonder if they are taking a tally of requests on this?

[awraynor]

As we know money talks and if they get enough interest, anything is possible.

[pcdoc]

I am sort of afraid there will others doing the same. Developers are the key to making Windows Phone a success and so far the developers are a bit weary of jumping in. It will be a wait and see game however if they are successful, I am sure many will change their minds and start to support it. Unfortunately it is no longer about the the most features in a mobile devices, it is about support and the Eco-system and Windows Phone has allot to prove yet. Changing the core OS shortly after initial release is not helping either especially when you are trying to catch up. Backwards compatibility is key to success and that has yet to be established. Apple has taken an approach of one app for the tablet and phone which is a great solution, but MS has not demonstrated (at least to me) that it can do the same.

[Neophyte]

...Apple has taken an approach of one app for the tablet and phone which is a great solution, but MS has not demonstrated (at least to me) that it can do the same.

This is exactly what MS is doing, by providing a common OS across all platforms with Win8. Apple and MS just are going about it from opposite directions, but building from their strengths. Apple started from phone OS to tablet, building upon the iPhone platform. MS has to work from PC to tablet to phone, as the PC is where all of their developers are. RT apps will work on both Win 8 (PC/tablet) and RT (tablet) and easily ported to Win Phone8. When they launched Win Phone 7, they obviously did not have Win8 ready, but they HAD to enter the smartphone market. If they chose to wait until Win8 was ready, the additonal two years may have been too much to overcome.

[awraynor]

I agree. I am hoping MS can catch up as I find the single OS across multiple platforms very attractive.
If this app were available on Win8 phone I wold be all over it, but I literally would have great difficulty
doing my job without it.
I'm not against letting my employer buy the iPhone 5 and I catch an off contract Win8 phone when the
app becomes available.

No one OS does it for me on the phone, PC or tablet. The downside is it gets really expensive buying apps
across iOS, OS X, Win7, Win8 and WHS.