Apple’s new mobile experience
Apple has set out a new vision for how users should interact with mobile devices. Its new mobile product has no numeric keys, calling buttons or navigation pad. All of the traditional pre-requisities of handset design have been swept away in favour of a touchscreen occupying virtually the entire face of the device.
According to the company’s CEO Steve Jobs, Apple set out to revolutionise the phone. It has attempted to do this primarily through innovation in interface design.
The iPhone has clearly been produced by a team which has stepped away from the conventions of mobile telephony, evaluated the core functions it wants the device to perform and set about building an interface best suited to those requirements. It is evident from the product’s design that music, photos, voice calling, web browsing and messaging are the key functions. Given the significant differences in the modes of interaction required by these applications, Apple has concluded a fully flexibile interface - as provided by its touchscreen - is the most effective way to deliver a great user experience.
It is important to recognise that user experience is the key differentiator which will determine the success of the iPhone. Apple may have patented some of the technology relating to its touchscreen interface (enhanced to allow accurate finger input without needing a stylus), but there is nothing unique in the product’s specifications. The 2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and music playback are readily available on less expensive handsets marketed by manufacturers with better channel distribution. Apple’s iPhone will have to succeed on the strength of its user interface, design and experience. Quite simply, it amounts to a question of whether users will find it easier to perform the key functions of music, calling, messaging, browsing and photography with the iPhone or with a more traditional handset?
Evaluating the usability of the interface is currently impossible. Apple has deliberately kept the project under close wraps and there will be no commercial availability until June 2007. Without seeing how the device operates day-to-day, any judgements would merely be guess work. However, the touchscreen concept is something we have been exploring for some time and we believe Apple is right to seek differentiation by offering a completely flexibile interface.
There are also several other innovations which suggest Apple has been paid close attention to the user experience enhancements which can make or break a product. It has included a range of sensors, used to detect light conditions, proximity and orientation - the device then adjusts its settings accordingly. For instance, turn the device into landscape orientation and the screen immediately flips to reflect this. Hold the device to your ear and it will switch off the touchscreen. This kind of contextual awareness is key to good experience.
Apple has also worked closely with its service partners: Google provides integrated search and mapping, Yahoo is offering free push email and mobile operator Cingular - which will be the exclusive provider in the US - will be delivering the core network functionality to enable these applications. iTunes, calendar and contacts integration is expected to be excellent.
Other interesting features include the 4 and 8 Gb storage capacities, the fact it runs Mac OS X and that it will only support GSM and EDGE in the initial version. It will be priced at USD 499 and USD 599 for the 4 and 8 Gb version respectively when it launches with Cingular in the US. A 3G version is planned for European markets in Q4 2007, with Asia to follow in 2008.
We like the iPhone. We think Apple has done a lot of groundbreaking work to produce a user experience better suited to the emerging generation of media hungry mobile customers who use and share information in a very dynamic ways. This is a product for the user who instant messages sitting in front of the TV, Googles words while they are reading magazines and shares photos like gossip. Media and communications are becoming intertwined in a complex new landscape and the iPhone, through interface innovation, is designed to reflect these new requirements.
However, we have some concerns. The first is whether the variant of OS X which powers the iPhone will be robust enough for telephony and sufficiently attractive for third party developers to innovate new applicactions. Second, we fear the political climate of the mobile industry will prevent Apple from achieving strong enough distribution - the product represents a direct challenge to handset manufacturers and operators who have ambitions of controlling the music, browsing and video experience. It may be the iPhone only succeeds in a second or third iteration which is able to take advantage of disruptive trends in emerging mobile broadband networks. Lastly, it is expensive. At USD 599 with a 2 year contract, this represents a major purchase and a level of investment considerably higher than an iPod.
The expectation surrounding this launch has been unprecedented and with good reason: Apple has a history of producing exceptional products that change the way people interact with the digital world. In launching a communications product, it is trying to go a step further and change the way we interact with each other. By focusing on making key features easier and giving people a clearly differentiated choice over rival products, we think Apple has contributed significantly to enhancing the user experience of mobile services.
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9 Comments - join the debate
- WirelessDuniya » Blog Archive » Apple’s new mobile experience - the iPhone replied:
[…] atever order you want — just like email. Check out the Apple’s iPhone here Source: MEX Posted in MobileSpace, Mobile User Experience, Mobile Usability, Mobile User […]
January 10th, 2007 at 4:51 am. Permalink.
- Joe Pemberton replied:
Marek, I think you’re right on that the major differentiators are in the UE area, as opposed to a unique feature set or technology (it’s not a PDA or smart phone).
I think the biggest win is that Apple has been able to shake up the oem/carrier relationship and get some true innovation to happen. Like Jobs said in his keynote, “every software company should make their own hardware.” (I’m paraphrasing). This is something Microsoft is learning from (Xbox, Zune) and is an area where the mobile industry could make some strides.
My initial reaction to the iPhone announcement is over at Idlemode.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:37 pm. Permalink.
- MEX - the strategy forum for mobile user experience - Trends from 3GSM, pt. 1 replied:
[…] Coupled with Apple’s decision to almost entirely eliminate hardware buttons from the iPhone, there are signs that the flexibility of touch screen interfaces, currently confined to busines […]
February 21st, 2007 at 1:50 pm. Permalink.
- MEX - the strategy forum for mobile user experience - Growth in open OS will shift zones of influence replied:
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- MEX - the strategy forum for mobile user experience - Evolving from lists to objects: a story of ZenZui, TAT and Apple replied:
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- MEX - the strategy forum for mobile user experience - 5 handsets changing the industry landscape replied:
[…] much has been written about the hype and industry politics of the iPhone that it is easy to forget what the average […]
October 10th, 2007 at 12:38 pm. Permalink.
- 5 mobile phones set to change the world! « My space replied:
[…] much has been written about the hype and industry politics of the iPhone that it is easy to forget what the average […]
October 15th, 2007 at 5:07 am. Permalink.
- MEX - the strategy forum for mobile user experience - Handsets are no longer just for the hand replied:
[…] iPhone was the first device brave enough to implement the MMI entirely in software. In doing so, Apple prompted the industry to consider what could be achieved once it was freed from […]
March 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pm. Permalink.
- Handsets and no longer just for the hand at mTrends - mobile media lifestyle trends - m-trends.org replied:
[…] iPhone was the first device brave enough to implement the MMI entirely in software. In doing so, Apple prompted the industry to consider what could be achieved once it was freed from […]
March 24th, 2008 at 4:32 pm. Permalink.
