Less is more. Simplicity vs Complexity. A few things well, rather than everything mediocre.
We keep coming back to the fact that folks use their phones for only a few things (primarily: voice, sms, camera, alarm). Yet, the smartphone keeps getting more: more apps, more screen size, more icons, more buttons.
Jason has some nice comments as to why he ‘reverted’ to a Moto PEBL.
Link [via Russ]: Less Phone: The Moto PEBL – Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals).
I convinced myself I needed a smartphone when I really didn’t. What I really needed was Less Phone. A phone that made calls, picked up a strong signal, supported simple text messaging, and offered a dead simple calendar.
But, Russ really puts his finger on it by summarizing:
And that’s the thing we should be looking for in mobility – exactly
what Jason described: We need to create apps and services that we’ll
want to use once the shine wears off. We need to find those compelling
apps that make you pull it out of your pocket and use it every day [emphasis mine, CS].
We’re not there yet, but that’s good – that means there’s lots of
opportunity left. 🙂
Or…
How about phones made to order? If a person wants to buy a car off the lot, they can. But if they want a specific set of features, they can order them from the car dealer.
How about the same with a mobile phone? I would like to see the purchase of the handset to be a separate action from the subscription to a mobile plan. Much like I can buy a traditional phone from Target or the like and then order my landline service from Verizon or Sprint or Bell..
Thus, if I wanted a standard phone I could go to any vendor and buy it, as well as the subscription from what ever carrier/service provider suited my needs.
Or if I wanted a 3 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens with 10x zoom, Lifeblog, 10 mins of sound recording, 30 mins of video recording, a 4 GB memory chip, and maybe that pesky voice telephone bit, I could order from Nokia’s website and then slip my service provider’s SIM chip in when it arrives and off I go.
In Web Design, folks have been preaching the seperation of structure from presentation, let’s separate out handset manufacturers from the service providers. And provide customization to the customers who want it.