Nick asked:
> bonding with your phone [...] Is this just a Japanese thing? Or do I just
know a lot of sad people [...]
>
Interesting question, Nick. Here are my thoughts, aimed at answering: How can
one build mobile devices that "bond" with users?
My phone is definitely my most "personal" of my mobile devices (phone, MP3
player, camera, Game Boy, laptop). In some ways, my phone obsession matches
Nick's description: In the six years I've carried a cell phone, I've only been
separated from it once for more than 48 hours. I use it constantly for both
work and personal, entrust it with highly personal information like doctor's
appointments & "little black book" contact info. I buy based on plenty of
"soft factors" (color and style, cute but useless hangup animations). How
much more personal could a device get? However, unlike Nick I do not bond
with my phone completely. In fact, it seems more disposable and less "mine"
than my other mobile devices. Why?
The upgrade frequency isn't the only reason I don't bond much with my actual
phone. Yes, I buy a new handset every 18 months (plus damage-replacement every
9 months or so, clumsy clod that I am). Yes, that's more often than my other
devices, but not by much. I upgrade my laptop every 2-3 years, but it feels
more "me" than my phone does. Of course, I use my laptop a lot more than my
phone - something like 40 hours a week - and usage certainly is relevant to
bonding, but in this case I think I use them both enough to discount usage as
the only reason.
My phone feels like I've leased it, compared to my other mobile devices. For
example, if Nintendo went bankrupt tomorrow my Game Boy Advance would still be
useful, but my phone will feel instantly useless if Sprint vanished.
To explore this more completely, I must impose another layer of explanation
on the patient reader. Regardless of their design, I often think of my
complex devices in two parts: "product" (usually software) and "player"
(usually hardware). I use a "product" for a specific, single task, and my
"user experience" is quite well defined - either it worked or it didn't.
Players are ideally invisible container and enabler for products; my feelings
about them are aggregated from my "product" experiences. For example, I just
got my Game Boy Advance and currently I only have one game for it, so I
currently think of it as a single product -- but if/when I buy another game, I
suspect I'll suddenly see the game cartridges as the "product" and the GBA
itself will be demoted to "player". For my phone, the line is mushy but the
embedded apps feel more like "product". For example when I set an appointment,
I feel like I'm interacting with the calendar software more than the phone
itself.
(OK, the following is speculative than experiential.) For me to bond with a
device, I think I need these three factors:
[1] The product has to be great - extremely useful, very reliable, well
designed, performs wonderfully, etc.
[2] I can tune it. A lot. Set preferences, curb annoying behavior. (I make
exceptions for extremely well designed, single purpose products)
[3] I believe I will use the product for a long time (including upgraded
versions, hardware & platforms).
To oversimplify: I buy great products, and personalization starts the bonding,
but the bond is really created over time.
For example, I am bonded to MS-Word. It was a good product when I first used
it in 1988, but over the ten years I've used it. MS-Word has grown without
losing its performance and "personality" - the interface, the features' focus
on writing not layout, the power and flexibility of scripting - as it added
WSYWIG and other revolutionary features. When I tested its abilities (a
400-page book, including inset illustrations, using only Word), it worked
(barely). I feel more "bonded" every time it upgrades and adds new features
without taking away the speed and power.
My phone usually succeeds on first and second points, but fails on the third
point. For example, I when I switched from Nokia to Denzo, I wished I could
use the Nokia's excellent address book on my new phone. So I didn't bond with
either - feels like I'm driving a rent-a-car - I know I'm going to have to
"give back" the software when the phone is obsolete. When I can rest assured
that my "product" will always be there, available on the best and fastest
"player" on the market, I think will begin to bond with my phone as a whole -
including the carrier, the handset, and the client software.
That's my 'user opinion'. For naysayers, I offer this handy retort: (and I
suspect these apply any other opinions on this list) : "Josh is hardly an
average phone user. He is an clearly an early adopter of cellphones. Not only
that, but he is paid by embedded software developers for 3G handsets - hardly
unbiased!" True, true. A much more accurate read on the mass market by
asking: Do your parents, school friends, other non-techies feel "attached" to
their phones? Do they delay upgrading because they like their particular
handset?
...but ithis message is already too long!
-Josh
> -----Original Message-----
> From: keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net
> [mailto:keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net]On Behalf Of Nick May
> Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 9:05 AM
> To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
> Subject: (keitai-l) bonding
>
>
> Quick question:
>
> How "attached" or "bonded" are you to your phone?
>
> Do you like it - care for it - grieve slightly when you "upgrade" - or is
> it just a lump of plastic and metal ? When you bought a new phone did you
> throw the old one away - or is it sitting around somewhere, to be smiled
> at slightly fondly when you come across it... Does your phone exist within
> your "bodyspace" or outside it? (That is clumsily put - perhaps it is
> simpler to say - are you always aware of exactly where it is?)
>
> In short, do you have some sort of "emotional" link to it that you do not
> have to, for example, your video, television, landline phone, etc....
> Does your phone have any little cartoon characters that shrug when they
> don't know who incoming email address is from, dance and smile when you
> switch the phone on, etc etc....
>
> If you answer (onlist or off) please say whether you are in Japan or not.
> (I am curious as to whether "Japanese" (or gaijin in Japan) attitudes are
> different to people in Europe or the US)
>
> The point is this: if there is a "bond" between a piece of equipment
> (either with or without the use of very limited AI cartoon characters in
> the handset) then is one (question) more likely to be persuaded to accept
> services delivered through that handset...?
>
> discussion of what handsets can do - but not so much of what handsets
> "ARE" - i.e. - user responses to handsets as handsets and the intimacy of
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Received on Wed Aug 8 23:27:53 2001