Mobisante's MobiUS smartphone ultrasound system secures FDA clearance, now needs to graduate from WinMo

The concept of a smartphone-based ultrasound imaging system is far from new, but Dr. Sailesh Chutani -- Mobisante's CEO and a former bigwig at Microsoft -- is bound and determined to take things beyond the drawing board. The aforesaid company has just landed what may in fact be the most important part of the production puzzle: 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration. That's a major seal of approval, and pretty much allows the company to move forward with plans to get ultrasound technology into remote villages and rural hospitals where it's simply not feasible to purchase a $20,000+ system. Of course, there's still many years of work between now and then; the existing build only works on Toshiba's WinMo-based TG01 smartphone, and current estimates still put a $7,000 to $8,000 price tag on the whole MobiUS package. If it can reach critical mass, it's hoping to halve that asking price, and if things keep progressing, this may very well be the company that makes an ultrasound stethoscope a reality. Here's hoping this is just the firm's first celebration of many to come.