According to one medical software vendor, physicians are already warming up to Apple's coming tablet, the iPad, with 22% percent of clinicians in a survey saying they plan to purchase the device within a year.

The legendary Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the much-awaited consumer electronics item 'iPad' in San Francisco, on Wednesday. Powered by Apple’s 'own' processor code-named A4 running at 1 GHz, a brilliant 9.7" LED display (Apple calls it IPS technology) with 16 to 64 GB of ‘flash’ memory, 10 hours of battery, WiFi (802.11n), Bluetooth (2.1), GPS and accelerometer, the ½' thin Apple iPad weighs a mere 1.5 pounds.

Handheld devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the iPod Touch are prevalent among doctors. However a recent study shows that these devices may be particularly useful for emergency radiologists, who in the near future, may be able to use them for teleconsultation and emergency procedures, according to a study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

As Michael Oh watched his daughter easily navigate her iPod touch, he had an epiphany. "I figured if she can learn it so intuitively that neurosurgeons would be able to figure it out," said Oh, who is a neurosurgeon.

Scan any airport passenger lounge or hotel lobby and you'll see them: Busy people scrolling through messages on their PDAs, flipping through stacks of files, and carrying on animated conversations with colleagues via cell phone. No one appreciates the convenience of today's virtual office more than physicians and other health care professionals on the go.