Medica Hosts First AppCircus

It had neither the pomp nor pageantry of The Greatest Show on Earth, but the geek-inspired AppCircus that played to an international audience at the Medica trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, on Friday was nevertheless entertaining.

Housed under the Big Top of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH’s cavernous exhibit halls, the traveling competition for new apps made its inaugural appearance at Medica, featuring more than a half-dozen mobile health/fitness solutions.

Facing a “jury” of mobile technology experts and the president of Messe Düsseldorf North America, nine app developers faced off against each other for a shot at participating in the Mobile Premiere Awards in Barcelona, Spain, in February.

Ringmaster Francis Casado, business development manager at Dotopen, the Spanish company that created and organizes events like AppCircus, the Mobile Premier Awards and Open Cities, moderated the 60-minute extravaganza, allowing performers just three minutes to juggle explanations of their app before the jury. Casado allotted even less time for questions from the four-member panel.

After walking the tightrope of serious deliberation for roughly five minutes, the jury named Frederic Llordachs, creator of doctoralia, the winner.

Llordachs’ app allows people to search for doctors, book appointments and read patient opinions on the Web or their mobile phones. The app currently is available in 18 countries, though patients can book medical appointments only in Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom.

“It was a close race,” said jury member Mark Wächter, mobile strategy consultant for MWC.mobi.

Andreas Mayer, creator of a mobile skin examination tool called handyscope, was named runner-up. He now gets the chance to pitch his idea at another AppCircus for a shot at the grand prize in Barcelona. His app converts an iPhone 4 or iPhone4S into a digital dermatoscope for skin examinations, allowing users to take polarized mole photos of up to 20 times the magnification of standard pictures and save them in a password-protected application.

Other sideshow performers included:

• iDoctus, a full-reference mobile app that helps Spanis-speaking doctors to make better clinical decisions. Its creator called it the “Swiss-army knife for doctors” due to its drug, disease and diagnostic point-of-care data.
• SpotMolePlus, a mole analyzing app that uses image processing and pattern recognition techniques to determine whether a skin mole is potentially cancerous and should be checked by a dermatologist. SpotMole boasts an 80 percent to 90 percent correct assessment rate.
• FoodCheck uses a traffic light labeling system to allow users to make healthy, informed choices when supermarket shopping. The app provides nutrition advice as well as data on portion sizes, fat totals, calorie count, and sodium content.
• OB Wheel Suite Pro can calculate the gestational age of a fetus and other related information. Its creator claims the app can hasten such computations as well as decision-making from obstetricians.
• PhysioForm combines some of the most recent innovations for tablets and smartphones for patients, physical therapists and personal trainers. The app uploads exercises to a mobile device, thereby helping physical therapists and personal trainers to better understand their clients’ needs and track their progress. “Patients that can track their own progress are more loyal to physical therapy,” its creator said.
• Vitadock tracks data for diabetes, hypertension, hypotension, fever and obesity. The iPhone-, iPad and iPod-touch-compatible app enables users to both manage and monitor their blood sugar, blood pressure and body temperature. It also supervises up to four users on one device.
• Symptom Tracker allows the health-conscious to keep constant tabs on their well-being by tracking symptoms of potential illnesses. Users simply type in a symptom (which is traceable by type, date or explanation), attach a photo (if applicable) and send it to a health practitioner for diagnosis.