Looking at the success of consumer electronics and consumer software, it consistently drills down to one major aspect: simplicity. And I believe it can’t be overstated how important simplicity is. Especially when you get to realize that this kind of “hygiene factor” is missing.
One of my latest gadgets is the Nokia E61
What worked astonishingly well was synching it with Outlook for my contacts, calendars and tasks. My former phone was running on Windows Mobile from Microsoft which was able to mirror all my nitty-gritty customizations pretty well. The Nokia is by far not able to do that; so in that sense a step back. From the overall functionality of the phone and usage comfort for e.g. the keyboard definitely two steps forward. So in the bottom line a cool thing which displays robust decisions between all the ongoing trade-offs a manufacturer of such products has to strike. It was worth getting it.
However, rather on the software and connectivity level, I really really believe that we are still light years away from all these gadgets, applications and platforms talking to each other. Just so. Just that it works seamlessly and just that the user doesn’t even realize how much complexity had been solved beneath the user interface. Example: Because I wanted to use this phone as a gateway into the web with my notebook, the respective tool “Nokia PC Suite” on my computer offers a “One Click” -connect to the internet. Dream on.
Not just that I first made sure that every possible connection is set-up from cable UBS, Infrared to Bluetooth. It simply didn’t want to work saying bluntly “unable to connect”. I tried to fix whatever would be somehow possible. In vain, so that I ended up calling the T-Mobile hotline.
No complains: The guy was super-competent and super-helpful. Yet, it took us around 15 minutes to go through the most obscure settings in the control panel of my XP operating system. After that, we extensively adjusted alpha-numerical parameters in the dial-up connection. I reckon all together, we had to make 20 manual adjustments till I finally got connected.
Let’s face it: This is a huge show-stopper. If I was not a nerd, how my girl-friend likes to call me, and not persistent to stubbornness, this would not have worked by any means. And with gradual improvements it won’t be a solution either, it will still be a pain in the a**. The way to the true “one click” is still a distant dream. And until then, we will have to live for a long time with exactly the opposite of the beloved simplicity.
Feeds
I guess this is one of the reasons why I have never been eager to invest in avant garde inventions. Not because I have no interest in them but because the first generations of any product is bound to go through growing pain…
As you said, the true convergence of equipments which will communicate and function well together is still a far cry from where we are today.
See ya real soon!