Duke University, Verizon partner on HIT

It’s interesting to see the different tacks the two wireless leaders in the US are taking with healthcare. Only three days ago we reported on the latest of AT&T’s moves in healthcare, the creation of ‘Digital Life Services’ under their Emerging Devices unit. We’ve heard less from Verizon overall, but that may be changing with this not terribly well-reported move

New products: The Carephone (UK)

the carephoneThe Carephone is a company that has been ‘soft launching’ in the UK during the past month. It has no connection with Bosch’s Carephone or other venture of a similar name, but the company is an extension of one that has deep roots in a niche part of the UK’s mobile phone industry. It shouldn’t be surprising, therefore – but it somehow is – that the quality of the build of their first mobile phone offering for the telecare market is top-notch.

The mobile has all the features you would expect of a specially designed phone – clear screen, large buttons, emergency alert button, GPS tracking capability, etc. – but it also has a waterproof remote pendant and a feature that answers the critics of mobile phones for older people – that they are useless because the users forget to charge them. Even when the user cannot make more calls because it is powered off or the battery needs charging, it still retains enough charge to make a call to the company’s response centre.