WebMD’s Newest Arrival, WebMD Pregnancy

WebMD’s newest iPhone application has more than 600 articles, about 130 quizzes, 23 videos, and dozens of other pieces of content. Think about those numbers and then think of all the resources an expectant mother juggles during her pregnancy. With its latest app for pregnant women and women trying to conceive, WebMD aimed to create the most comprehensive prenatal care tool out there.

“When people think about WebMD typically, they think about medical information and content,” Todd Zander, WebMD’s vice president of mobile and emerging media, said. So the creators built more than just educational materials into the app. WebMD Pregnancy also allows users to keep a personal journal in order to record milestones like the moment a woman finds out she’s pregnant and her baby shower event.

The free app was born after its sister app, WebMD Baby, which was released last year. It was certainly created with WebMD’s users in mind, as the site’s largest audience group includes moms in their 30s. The company recently ran a survey across its site for a week in February, during which 865 moms and moms-to-be responded to questions about their mobile use. More than 40% of them said that since they became pregnant, they started using their phones more frequently to search for information or to share photos.

Including the latest release, WebMD has seven apps in the App Store and also has applications for Andriod, Kindle Fire and the iPad. Among those are the WebMD app, which contains information on a number of medical topics, as well as condition-specific apps like WebMD Allergy. It’s no surprise that the company has developed two of its apps for new parents since its regular audience is largely made up of this demographic. In addition, there’s a growing effort by many companies to put information where it seems mothers are looking  ― on their mobile devices. Sixty-one percent of moms have smartphones, Zander said. In recognition of high usage statistics like these, this year the Consumer Electronic Show even had a whole exhibit dedicated to MommyTech.