Cell by Robin Cook

for an answer to her question, and George noticed that she had grasped his arm again. “Our beta-test group is using smartphones just like the one you have in your hand, Mr. Nomophobe.”
    â€œNomophobe?” George questioned. “What the hell is that?”
    â€œIt’s the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.”
    George did have his phone in his hand. He had the ringer off but wanted to be sure to feel the vibration if Claudine texted him.
    â€œWhat we could have added to the presentation was a solution that we have come up with during the iDoc beta test. The problem with the smartphone is . . . well, it’s not a problem so much as an inconvenience that has the potential to become a problem . . . is the
battery
. iDoc runs constantly with its vast array of wireless sensors. Batteries run down,
fast
. Our beta testers need to recharge all the time. Three times a day plus charging it overnight while asleep. While that isn’t a deal breaker, it is an inconvenience.”
    â€œSo what’s the solution to that?”
    â€œGraphene,” she whispered.
    â€œGraphene?” George replied, matching her hushed tone. “Never heard of it.”
    â€œIt’s been around since the sixties. It’s not like it’s a secret, even though I’m trying to keep this between us because we’re presenting iDoc to investors as it will run today, not tomorrow. Anyway, it’s also not a secret that we’ve established close relationships with the world’s major smartphone manufacturers. We became aware of graphene’s potential by accident. UCLA discovered a process to make a nontoxic, highly efficient energy-storage medium out of pure carbon. Graphene. It’s a ridiculously simple technology and Amalgamated helped fund their efforts in finding a way to mass-produce it with small embedded electrodes.”
    â€œYou lost me.”
    â€œIt’s a supercapacitor. It charges much more rapidly than a chemical battery. It’s high density, in that it can hold a lot of electrons, and we can make it one atom thick. Long story short, the technology will have the capability to charge a smartphone from zero percent to one hundred percent in one second. Flat.”
    â€œSeriously?”
    â€œAbsolutely. Smartphone models with graphene-based batteries will begin rolling out this fall.” She looked around; still, no one was within earshot. “Now, that
is
a secret of sorts. As co–patent holders in the technology, we’ve asked manufacturers to not release any information about it until we go wide with iDoc. We want to overwhelm the public’s perception that iDoc is revolutionary. The new battery technology coinciding with iDoc’s release will reinforce investors’ assessment that a new paradigm has been entered. And it will also help serve to get any non-smartphone users into stores to buy new ones.”
    â€œAnd if you can’t afford a new phone?”
    â€œWe’ll subsidize it. Or, more accurately, Obamacare will subsidize it. That’s another bit of holdback, too.”
    â€œHow can—”
    â€œEveryone in the beta test loves iDoc, George. It’s better than a real doctor. For all the little things patients want to talk to their doctor about and can’t because that doctor is unavailable. The acceptance of iDoc was immediate. It will change medicine. We’re talking health care, not sick care, as Bradley alluded to during the presentation. Let me give you a personal example of how this works. Recently I woke up with a sore throat. My first concern was strep, as a friend of mine had been diagnosed with it. I dropped a saliva sample onto the designated location of my phone’s touchscreen and asked iDoc for an analysis. Within so many seconds, strep
was
detected in the flora of my mouth. iDoc emailed a script to my local pharmacy and the prescription was waiting for me when I arrived. I