Speaking of the top 50 …
Diabetes Mine has a great “open letter to Steve Jobs” about why Apple should get into the business of designing insulin pumps and blood glucose meters. While I somehow don’t see Apple jumping into the medical device market, this is definitely in keeping with the point I was trying to make in my post about the “50 best tech products of all time” list. As blogger Amy Tenderich says, “while your brilliant product line enhances the lifestyle of (100) millions, I’m talking about the little devices that keep us alive, the people with chronic conditions.” Way to go, Amy. As a Type I myself (keepin’ it real with pens and needles instead of a pump), I definitely think a lot more can be done to make insulin pumps and other medical devices more user-friendly. And there’s certainly a market opportunity: With over a million Type 1-ers, and pumps going for up to $5,000 apiece, this is at least a $5 billion market. However, it’s not an easy business; this article has some good info about the challenges of manufacturing and marketing pumps: “By their nature, insulin pumps are challenging: they are used by unsupervised patients, and any malfunction could have serious consequences.” Still, if Steve does get on board, count me in. I’ll give up my BD Ultra Fine III’s for an iPump in a hearbeat.
