Wireless Informatics Forum

Yesterday I spoke at the second annual Wireless Developer Forum, held in Cambridge, UK. Some great presentations – from mobile advertising to battery life optimization – from a varied range of companies.

WIF was invited to speak about the user experience, more specifically how it’s often damaged by the inherent complexity of our industry. One of the main themes of the session was to explain how small failings in the mobile value-chain can often have dramatic consequences later in the chain. Those individual component parts therefore need to appreciate the impact that others (often outside of their direct control) can often have on their product ‘down-stream’.

When people talk about the mobile user experience they typically gravitate towards the ‘local’ experience. This is the interaction between the user and device; the UI, navigation, embedded services etc. However, we need to appreciate that external forces can have a major impact; network performance, retail, pricing and even after-sale support. Only when you combine these two factors can you fully appreciate user experiences and how to build profitable patterns of user behavior.

For example, it’s impossible to guarantee consistency even across two seemingly identical devices on the same network. The simple matter of contract type, for example, will have a huge bearing on how that device performs on the network and the content that a user is able to access.

Much of the fragmentation comes from shifting relationships between different elements of the ecosystem, often the oem and the operator. For example, consumers are frequently exposed to huge amounts of oem advertising; they purchase in good faith based on promises of functionality (IM, email, for example) and then face a process of jumping through hoops to get access. Firmware lockdowns by operators, limitations of contract plans, APN restrictions, configuration etc; all represent that final mile in the user experience.

This is the very reason why I tell people that the iPhone can’t be used as a benchmark for user experience. The controlled distribution model that it enjoys makes it unfair to compare the experience to any other mobile product and service currently available.

You can download the presentation I delivered here.