 The
Pick and Mix Device
By Natalie Turner
With a marketing
and business strategy background in Internet and New
Media Businesses, Natalie has developed new marketing
strategies and business models for a number of networked
businesses. She has also developed strategies for blue
chip companies in the IT, Computing and Broadcasting
industries. |
I recently purchased a Treo Handspring combined PDA and
smartphone. I had wanted one of these years ago, even before
they were thought of, so with great excitement I got it out
of the box and started to play. I had people “ooing”
and “ahhing” around me, probably due more to its
novelty value than anything else, but within a few days I
realized there were some usability glitches; for example,
how can I check my diary while using the speakerphone? Impossible.
Or, why doesn’t it have the simple functionality of
being able to redial the last number I had called?
“It’s a bit big and ugly”, a female friend
commented, “not really the sort of thing to take out
with you to a party”. I have found that I am more prone
to leave it in the cloakroom when going out to a club rather
than take it with me, something that I would never have done
with my previous tiny Nokia phone, so maybe my female friend
is right. It is a bit bulky. But, on the plus side it is great
to not have to input multiple numbers into a SIM card, to
be able to download and read email easily and write SMS with
speed, all with one device.
As both a researcher into how people interact with devices,
and a consumer of them as well, I am fascinated with how our
behaviour evolves and adapts and how our expectations change
over time. Now I have such functionality at my fingertips
I want it to be able to do more things; I want the functionality
of the device to evolve with me, as I change. Behaviour changes
slowly, far slower than the ICT industry would hope for, but
it does change. What is important is that products and services
are not created as static entities but are able to mutate
as people’s behaviour and expectations adapt. Products
and services therefore take on a longer lifespan.
The challenge for manufacturers and content providers is
to offer flexible functionality that can extend a person’s
reach into new spaces, enabling and encouraging them to move
by taking small steps to do new things. This may be a benefit
discovered after the purchasing event. The instant gratification
of being able to take a photograph and send it to a friend
might not have been the initial trigger to buy a particular
mobile phone or PDA, but the discovery that one can do this,
especially if it is easy to use, can be a prompt for behavioural
change. It is taking the time to think of the needs or desires
that might trigger usage of functions or content access, then
mapping flexible services onto these mind states that is critical.
This is less about the “next big thing” and more
about thinking creatively about what currently exists and
then presenting it in an innovative way.
It has been a month since I bought my Treo and I’m
very happy with it. I can think of a number of things I wish
it would do, or at least have the capability to adapt to.
At the moment my needs, as a consumer, are limited to what
manufacturers think I want from the device. But what I really
want is the ability to pick and mix the applications that
suit my needs and lifestyle; I want a redial option, I want
easy access to a headset when I view something on the Treo
during a conversation, I want to try – but maybe not
buy – a camera attachment. But while manufacturers still
insist on selling from a product perspective, rather than
a customer perspective, I guess I’ll have to keep an
eye out for a model that better anticipates my needs.
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