Why can't mobile phones be like pantyhose?
I ended my day with a drink at Fiddlehead Joe’s tonight with a very good friend of mine. The conversation started of course with talk about the iphone which finally went on sale today in the states. My friend, being a non-techie, hadn’t heard of it and didn’t know why I was so excited. I must confess, I’m not into gadgets. I never paid any attention to the blackberry or the pearl, but after seeing David Pogue’s videos on the New York Times, I thought the iphone looked pretty cool. Having said that, I’m not sure that I would wait in line for several days and pay $500 for one. Sure it’s cool, but Apple isn’t known for their phone technology. I’m putting my money on people having lots of complaints and regretting waiting in line in the next few months.
Of course the problem with technology is that even if the software engineers and designers make them all cool and sophisticated, most of the people I know have no clue how to use them. I’m lucky that my phone is old enough that it doesn’t have a camera. I only learnt how to text message a few weeks ago and sending a message longer than “Yes, count me in” takes forever.
At the latest Massive conference in Vancouver, I spoke to a Rogers representative and asked him if anyone was working on a phone for the average Joe like me. You know a phone that just calls people? His answer of course was no. Why would anyone want to work on that, it’s just not sexy. Why does everything with technology have to be sexy? Pantyhose aren’t that sexy and companies still make them. Women need plain old boring pantyhose and mobile phone users like me would love a phone that is plain, boring, easy to use and just make phone calls. Am I the only one that thinks this?
I don’t think you’re alone. I’m a person who mostly just wants my phone to be a great phone. Though I also want it to have a good system for managing contact numbers.
There’s an interesting discussion of consumer behaviour and the tension between simplicity and “features” at:
http://www.uie.com/articles/simplicity/
Josh Porter quote’s Don Norman’s observation: “Make it simple and people won’t buy. Given a choice, [consumers] will take the item that does more.”
It comes down to the decision making process when you’re shopping. Imagine you have two product boxes with the same price and one has more features. Unless the other’s packaging and marketing manages to sell you on how simplicity can make your experience better, it’s understandable for you to choose the one with more features; more “bang for your buck”.
No, you are NOT alone! I just want a basic merging of form and function from my technology.
I really like my little compact, non-flip phone. I’ll never break a nail answering it, I see right away who’s calling, and it has nice rubberized buttons that my fingers don’t slip off. I don’t want to have to re-learn a more complicated gadget with features I’ll never, ever use when this one dies (any day now). Sigh.
Why does “new and improved” have to mean “complex and confusing.”
We may not be the only ones, but sadly, we are in the minority.