If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, you’d think physicians would be PCs, right? Wrong. According to a recent study by Manhattan Research, 75% of physicians in the U.S. own an Apple product, such as an iPhone, iPad, or iPod.

Though a December MED article proclaimed Android the best operating system for many medical applications, when it comes to smartphones, doctors—more than four in five of whom now own one—are choosing the iPhone over options featuring the Android platform.

They’re also flocking to Apple’s tablet product, the iPad. Almost a third of U.S. physicians already own one, and nearly as many plan to purchase one in the next six months.

From the press release:

“Physicians’ response to the iPad has been overwhelmingly positive, especially for use in the practice setting,” said Meredith Ressi, president of Manhattan Research. “Physicians also express strong interest in being able to access electronic medical records through the iPad—as more EMR providers offer this ability, iPad accessibility may be a deciding factor for some practices when selecting an EMR provider.”

The FDA laid down its ruling on medical device data systems in February, and so far, smartphones have been laying low to avoid having to market their devices as medical products. Could doctors’ interest in certain brand names convince them to change their minds?

—Jamie Hartford