Cell Phones: Simple vs. Complex
May 31st, 2006
This topic has been popping up in quite a few of my news sources, and it just makes sense. A large number of people don’t want complicated cell phones, and this attitude seems to be more true of older people. The problem is that the cell phone market is saturated, and the cell providers are looking to extra features as their way of increasing revenue. (Remember, as a publicly traded company, it’s never sufficient to maintain the status quo—you must continue to grow and increase revenue in order to increase shareholder value). The net result of this conflict between the customer’s desires and the company’s desires is a renewed focus on usability. The iPod is an over-hyped, too-expensive MP3 player. But, as the article states, it took over the market due (in part) to its simplicity and ease of use. It’s good to see that other companies are finally figuring this out as well.
