Hi everyone,
I would very much appreciate your reflections on the issue below.
Background: With Vodafone live! came two Japanese phones into the
European market, the Panasonic GD-87 and the Sharp GX10. Vodafone turned
to the Japanese manufacturers in order to get the phones they want.
Nokia, Sony Ericsson and the rest didn't seem interested in delivering
tailored phones.
Issue: We swear, we tear our hair and our eyes moist up. The damn phones
are impossible to use. There are no logic what so ever in the way you as
a user are supposed to use the GD-87 and the GX10. And I can bet a pile
of money that these phones have given Vodafone declining data ARPU due
to loss of average number of SMS sent by the user of these phones. It's
not a pleasant nor quick experience when you write and send an SMS with
these phones.
Question: Are there no usability experts at the Japanese manufacturers?
We have a bunch of interaction designers here that could design better
user experiences in their sleep. Is there something about the Japanese
engineering culture that keeps interaction designers out of the design
process?
/Johan
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Johan Bengtsson
Business Developer
Phone: +46-(0)709-61 44 25
Fax: +46-(0)709-63 64 25
www.doberman.se
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Received on Sat Jun 14 14:25:35 2003