From Slick and Click...to Tick and Stick

Despite the tens of thousands health apps, it is clear that digital health developers are not winning over consumers.   A killer app has not swept the market. Even the commanding iPhone 6 and IOS8 and the Apple Watch may not carry HealthKit in its bountiful wake to ignite consumers’ interest in a digital health revolution.

Thus far, digital health technology for consumers has been slick and focused on making people click.  It is premised on the belief that the great successes with functions and apps delivered through smartphones can spill over into health. But, what people like to do on smartphones is mostly entertainment and social communications: Technology developers:

• Miscalculate that the technology, such as the-data-platform, is a “big deal” and will interest consumers as much as it does techie developers.
• Presume that the click mentality for revenue production derived from advertising and will work in health.
• Perpetuate uni-focused apps, like hailing an Uber cab, buying a product on Amazon, or making an airline reservation, will also work in health. 

These conventions are constraining and not an easy transplant for the health market. Apps perpetuate the characterization of people as extremely distractible, only capable of handling one simple function at a time, and not willing to pay for digital services while accepting the hidden costs of marketing intrusion.

When it comes to changing people’s behavior, technology has to understand what makes people tick and how to make them stick. The big draw of activity sensors seems to be that it lets people know when they reach 10,000 steps with its beeps and this insight can be shared with friends and family.  But, is this simple model really enough to hook people on a sustained program of activity for health? I think not.  Technology can offer so much more.