Despite reports that twice as many doctors have iPhones this year than last year, a post over at WirelessDoc predicts that since many doctors have all their contact data and text files on the Palm Desktop software a good number will continue to carry Palm branded devices. That's good news for the Palm Pre. 

Dr. Bill Koslosky over at WirelessDoc writes: "I've seen a couple of posts on the mostly inactive palm-med listserv about MDs looking to replace their old Palm Tungsten PDAs as the batteries no longer keep a charge. They have all their contact data and text files on the Palm Desktop software, but need a new handheld to re-sync."

Certainly anecdotal, but it makes sense. By many accounts the Palm Pre is the first true contender in the iPhone era, and those Palm Tungsten PDA batteries are not removable -- no option but to upgrade.

"Of course, the Palm Pre and the new WebOS are about to be released," Koslosky writes. "I'm switching. I'll lose the third party apps that I've enjoyed using on my Treo 700p like Agendus, but I'm willing to move on. I'm hoping that porting the old data to the new OS won't be much of a problem."

According to a new report from Manhattan Research, the percentage of physicians in the U.S. using smartphones increased to 64 percent. The group increased by 20 percent between 2008 and 2009, the study found. The number of physicians using iPhones doubled, Manhattan Research found.

Read the WirelessDoc post for more thoughts from Koslosky.

UPDATE: This article was posted over at Pre Forums and it sparked some good discussion. Read more here

ALSO: Scott Farmer from AAI writes in the comments below that for doctors looking to hang onto their old Palm devices, there is help for replacing those batteries, after all. See the comments for more...