Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[khemara_qc]

What mobile phone users want
Mobile phone users have a clear message, writes Greg Thom
16jun04

INTERNET access, the latest full colour, graphics-laden games, multimedia messaging, the ability to take digital photographs and short videos, and send e-mail across the world.

These are just some of the cutting-edge features used to lure us into buying the new breed of mobile phones. But are they what we want?
Research by mobile phone maker Kyocera indicates the message from the average mobile phone user is: Keep it simple, stupid!

Kyocera asked users to nominate the top eight functions they felt were important to them.

Features that are considered important (in no particular order) include silent mode, caller ID, text messaging and an alarm clock.









It is not just the features that are paramount. It is making access to them as simple as possible.

"We did studies into mobile phone use,", Kyocera senior vice-president for global marketing Don McGuire told Connect. "The key finding was: 'Just make it easy to use'."

Users taking part in the survey were shown a list of 40 features and asked to name five they would use, not use, and consider.

The result was a list of eight indispensable features, none of which included sexy, hi-tech options such as polyphonic ring tones, screensavers downloaded from the internet, or advanced personal organiser functions.

"Technology for technology's sake seems to be ruling," Kyocera senior manager for corporate communications John Chier says.

"It's an engineering-led philosophy. When you ask why do we build it that way, the answer is, because we can.

"We went back and had a look at that."

Kyocera says that in a separate survey of users of mobile phone hand-sets, the brand came out on top in terms of ease of use.

"We knew we had a good foundation to start with. It is time for us to start telling consumers about that ease of use," Chier says.

The company says it hopes to do more than pay mere lip service to this new philosophy: it will focus on the eight features identified by users as important to them, and will make them the easiest to access and use in its next generation of CDMA phones.

A key feature is a radical new "pinwheel" interface, similar in appearance to the giant dial on the TV game show Wheel of Fortune. Users can spin the wheel on-screen, highlight the relevant function, and select. The effect is colourful, clean and easy to read.

"We have actually designed a user interface in which the most common features, such as silent mode, come up first," Chier says.

But features such as digital photography are not being ignored. They are being streamlined in the company's emerging mobile phone line-up.

McGuire says users of the Koi, for instance, will be able to take photographs while holding the phone horizontally. "Research shows people want to be able to take pictures as they would a digital camera (in landscape mode)," Chier says.

Reg Robertson, of consumer website Phonechoice.com.au, agrees many consumers are shifting towards mobile phones that are more simple to use.

"From the 200,000 consumers who visit the Phonechoice website, we continually receive complaints that, because mobile phone manufacturers install additional features on their phones, users are becoming more frustrated with their inability to understand how to use the additional features.

"More and more consumers are contacting us through our website and seeking our advice on how to use all the extra gadgets.

"I think it's important that manufacturers try to simplify their instruction manuals and the services they provide."

Robertson says up to 20 per cent of consumers use their phones only to receive or make calls to family members.

They ignore SMS messaging, games, and snapping pictures using their phone's built-in digital camera.

"Our research also shows there is a big swing away from consumers signing long-term contracts, despite all the benefits and gadgets included," Robertson says.

"This would also indicate the consumer doesn't understand how they would be able to take advantage of these extra benefits."

Chier says that while consumers increasingly want their phones to be simple and easy to use, owning a good-looking phone is still important.

"You can't make an ugly phone that is full of features. A phone is a lifestyle choice now."


http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,9839272%255E11869,00.html