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Frictionless Design Choices

April 3, 2015

Insightful post by Steven Sinofsky (of Andreessen Horowitz; before that, president of Microsoft’s Windows division). He writes at Learning by Shipping. Below are key highlights (I added the orange emphasis):

Frictionless and minimalism are related but not necessarily the same. Often they are conflated which can lead to design debates that are difficult to resolve.

A design can be minimal but still have a great deal of friction. The Linux command line interface is a great example of minimal design with high friction.

  • Minimalist design is about reducing the surface area of an experience.
  • Frictionless design is about reducing the energy required by an experience.

Therefore the real design challenge is not simply maintaining minimalism, but enhancing a product without adding more friction.

Low-Friction Design Patterns
Assuming you’re adding features to a product, the following are six design patterns to follow, each essentially reducing friction in your product. They cause the need to learn, consider, futz, or otherwise not race through the product to get something done.

  • Decide on a default rather than options
  • Create one path to a feature or task
  • Offer personalization rather than customization
  • Stick with changes you make
  • Build features, not futzers
  • Guess correctly all the time
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Filed Under: Design, Interface, Product Development

Apple Unit Share Reaches All-Time High in Urban China; Captured 27% of the Smartphone Market

April 2, 2015

From Kantar Worldpanel:

The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech for the three months ending in February 2015 shows that Apple’s iOS sales have reached an all-time high in urban China where it captured 27.6% of the smartphone market.

Mobile Forward 00075 2015-04-02

Source: Kantar Worldpanel, April 2015. “m/e” means “month ending”.

Market share means little. Market share multiplied by a product range (iPhones) with ~45% gross margins, means you’re doing a lot of things that consumers really value.

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Filed Under: Android, Apple, China, Google, Microsoft, OS, Smartphones

Force Touch Could Be Exclusive to ‘iPhone 6s Plus’; New 4″ Model Unlikely in 2015

April 2, 2015

Joe Rossignol, reporting for MacRumors:

Apple’s pressure-sensing Force Touch technology could be exclusive to the so-called “iPhone 6s Plus,” according to Taiwan’s Economic Daily News (via GforGames). The report, which claims Taiwanese manufacturer TPK will be responsible for supplying Apple with the Force Touch sensors, makes no mention of the “iPhone 6s,” leading to speculation that the technology could be reserved for the larger iPhone 6s Plus.

Joe, in a separate article, also reports:

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a respectable track record at reporting on Apple’s upcoming plans […] notes that a 4-inch model is unlikely to be released this year.

Some people hear rumors, automatically assume the vendor in question will do X (where X = the “wrong” choice), and then criticize the vendor. I’m not in that camp. I just think it will be very interesting to a) try and think thru what Apple might do and b) see what trade-offs Apple actually makes.

At first glance, I think Ming-Chi Kuo is right. First, are we seeing any indication that Apple needs to do this? I don’t believe so. I’ll admit, using an iPhone 6 one-handed is bit harder, but I’d wager most (most) people value the display area more.

Second, what sort of compromises would Apple have to make to squeeze the guts of the 4.7″ model into a 4″ body?. You might say “None; they’ll just make the 4″ thicker.” Not likely. And even so, it would be a significant engineering effort, since such a 4.7″-to-4″ transition is not a simple one. Apple is more likely to focus its resources on new features, rather than re-factoring an existing architecture.

Still, there are some other avenues related to this. Stay tuned.

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Filed Under: Apple, iOS, Smartphones

Thursday Assorted Links

April 2, 2015

1. Tyler Cowen’s conversation with Peter Thiel (VC and author of Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future (recommended)).

2. Microsoft brings its Office Lens document scanner app to the iPhone. This looks very handy.

3. LinkedIn buys predictive insights startup Refresh. I’m hoping it’s for the sincere, vs. the lazy.

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Filed Under: Acquisitions, Assorted Links, Innovation, Leadership, Microsoft

The Amazon Dash Button

April 1, 2015

Source: Amazon

Source: Amazon

I first learned about Dash Button via Seth Fiegerman’s article at Mashable. Here is Amazon’s product page.

Introduction

We are just beginning to see “Internet of Things” devices. There is much more experimentation, failure, and re-calibration to come; a mix of product development and market development. The question is, do you experiment* in public (think Google Glass) or do you do it in secrecy until you’re certain? (Perhaps the most direct way to think about that question is with another question: what’s the cost of failure, to your other product lines and to your reputation? The answer, for Amazon, for this product, is that it’s fairly low.)

First Impressions

The best aspect of the Dash Button is that it demonstrates Amazon’s dedication to imagining and engineering new products. In case you haven’t read my first post, I think that’s what it takes to move industries forward.

This product, however, seems like a clear-but-perhaps-ironically-inefficient solution that competes against pencil, paper, PC, and smartphone. (Why? See below.) The odds of mass-market success, therefore, might be quite low, even within the context of Amazon’s Prime consumer base. But it has strong platforms behind it: Amazon’s warehouse, payment, delivery, and service capabilities. So, a seemingly dead-simple way of leveraging huge capability; that’s a big plus.

Clarity

It also shows very sharp clarity in cutting the distance between “A” and “B”: i.e., between “want” and “get”. It could make the act of buying as habitual as consumption. Amazon’s video has the example: your cup-a-soup is a recurring habit; why not let your purchase be a recurring habit?

Specialization

At its core, this is an information device, albeit a small, passive, and stationary one. It’s actually a *specialized* information device. How have specialized information devices fared so far? (Hint: MP3 players, digital cameras, GPS devices, voice recorders, e-readers, etc.) … this is one more (or N more) information device whose job a smartphone can do.

Cognitive Clutter

The simplicity (at the action level; pressing the button) might be cancelled out at the device level. Why?

If you use a Dash button, or several, you’re guaranteed to deal with one or more of the following: moving them, knocking them down, damaging them, losing them, re-arranging them, re-programming them, or worrying about them (pets? babies?)… that’s 1…5… or 10 more objects your brain is tracking, at some level. The next time you realize you need more Smart Water, do you order it with your smartphone or tablet? Or do you walk to wherever you keep the button? What if you want a different size or flavor? 

Visual Clutter

Your sleek appliance + this bright button = visual clutter. And you’d be adding an advertisement to your appliance or wall. Multiplied by 1 button… or 5… or 10?

Silver Lining Platform

The button is just one way to leverage the more powerful things: Amazon’s high-performance platforms. Because the button uses Amazon’s Dash Replenishment Service (DRS), through which, Amazon explains:

Device makers are able to leverage Amazon’s authentication and payment systems, customer service, and fulfillment network—giving their customers access to Amazon’s low prices, great selection, and reliable delivery.

Trailing Questions

Are these color e-ink labels? Does this product generate ad revenue? These are free (and I’m guessing they’ll stay free) — do you need to “qualify” to get more, or can you ask for 10 at some point? When is mine coming? (Of course I signed up. It’s Amazon, and we’re in the age of tomorrow.)

______

*This button is an experiment, at some level. One clue: a soft launch like this.

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Filed Under: Amazon, IOT

Google Unveils Chrome Stick that Turns Any Display Into a PC

April 1, 2015

Cade Metz’s article at Wired. I’m using his headline.

Seems like this is more about making displays smart, and less about a convenient mobility. Thoughts? Example: would you rather carry this Chromebit and a separate keyboard (or worry about finding one) and also hope your destination has a display? Or simply carry a tablet or laptop?

Mobile Forward 00060 2015-04-01

Source: Google Chrome Blog

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Filed Under: Chrome OS, Google

Wrist Wearables will Likely Drive >80% of Wearable Device Shipments, Forecasts IDC

April 1, 2015

Here is Simon Sharwood’s article at The Register.

The wrist is conspicuous (fashion-influenced), conveniently “handy”, and able to support a larger, display-enabled device. Helps it be the most popular place for a wearable device, at least for now. The article includes IDC’s wearable device forecast (below; good to see). But… it really doesn’t matter what the market size is, at this point… You either have a valuable product that you can market and distribute, or you don’t.

Mobile Forward 00059 2015-04-01

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, March 30, 2015

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Filed Under: Forecasts, Smartwatches, Wearables - Other

Xiaomi Starts Selling Smartphones at Physical Stores in India

April 1, 2015

At 300+ stores in India. Here is the GSMArena article. I’m using their headline.

Xiaomi set up an innovative smartphone distribution model (relative to competitors), initially selling ~70% of its smartphones online. That helped it avoid channel markup, which kept retail prices low. But if many of your products are intended for first-time smartphone buyers, and they don’t have an Internet device, it hard to reach them online. And if you’re competing against local brands (e.g., Micromax), it’s hard for consumers to assess your product. Stores will help.

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Filed Under: Distribution, India, Smartphones, Xiaomi

Your Country + Innovation + Women: All Inextricably Linked

March 31, 2015

1. Why America’s obsession with STEM education is dangerous, in which Fareed Zakaria argues that we risk dismissing broad-based learning.

First, I don’t think promoting STEM careers and broad-based learning are mutually-exclusive pursuits. Second, this would be the MF (Mobile Forward) quote of the day, if there were such a thing:

Critical thinking is, in the end, the only way to protect American jobs.

(Or substitute with the geography of your choice.)

 

2. An Action Plan For Getting More Women in Tech

  1. improvements to education, to raise awareness about technology and tech careers and counteract negative perceptions
  2. making the business case for more women in tech, and offering guidance to corporates to help them shift entrenched, male-dominated company cultures
  3. creating positive narratives and championing rolemodels to combat negative stereotypes, whether in the media or because of a lack of parental awareness about career opportunities for girls in tech
  4. strengthening female networking and mentoring opportunities
  5. access to funding to encourage more female entrepreneurs into startups

As the father of a smart young girl, I find #1 (e.g., sharing what I do and that “nerd” is a badge of honor) and #3 (highlighting women who did/do advance technology forward) the most straightforward to talk about day-to-day. But you may have a different view or experience. Email me.

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Filed Under: Innovation, Moving Forward, STEM

Apple Keeps Moving Mobile Forward

March 30, 2015

INVENTION

It’s too early to tell how successful Apple Watch will be. But what is clear is this: Apple continues to invent. It was striking, in fact, to realize — as Tim Cook, Kevin Lynch, and Jony Ive presented it – the amount of R&D that Apple has invested into making Apple Watch.

In terms of hardware, for instance, Apple developed unique or highly-customized technology in no less than seven areas. And these aren’t small achievements. They’re not feats of squeezing a camera into a watch or forms of specsmanship. They’re in important areas: related to CPU, interface, sensors, and very fundamental mechanics. The software achievements are equally impressive, spanning a range of 15 different problems Apple had to solve. All of these – hardware and software – are tough, fundamental advances aimed squarely at helping users achieve their goals.

Mobile Forward 00040 2015-03-30

I won’t re-explain each major technology area; others have written and said plenty. Instead, here are several of the high-order points, in my view:

1.  The S1. Very customized. As if Apple said “a new class of device deserves a new class of computer”. This degree of customization is the right call – because it affects everything that’s supposed to make a smartwatch appealing and valuable: size, functionality, performance, battery life, and upgradeability. I don’t claim 100% certainty, but I’d venture to say Apple’s competitors don’t take this aspect as seriously. If you have more color, please email me.

2.  Beyond conventional constraints. Apple didn’t allow a small display to dictate the terms of user interaction. It envisioned, and delivered, the Digital Crown and Force Touch.

3.  The Digital Crown. It’s a zig toward the tactile when the industry has zagged so far toward the digital. (And it’s not for the sake of contrarianism.) Very cool solution. If an Apple car had 10x more of this physical interface ingenuity, that would be amazing.

Also, just as the mouse, scroll wheel, and multi-touch were central to the identity of the Macintosh, iPod, and iPhone, the digital crown really is central to the identity of the Apple Watch. If you had to pinch, or weren’t able to zoom in and out, it would be an entirely different experience.

Mobile Forward 00071 2015-04-02

4.  Force Touch and Taptic Engine. These take the most widespread mobile interface, the touchscreen, and make it meaningfully richer. Pretty good achievement. And yes, to say the obvious: some form of Force Touch and Taptic Engine will land on the iPad and the iPhone. Like any new input approach, expect these to be used, over-used, and fine-tuned over time.

5.  Digital Touch (the ability to share a tap, a sketch, or a heartbeat). Apple could have taken the best-fit smartphone interactions (e.g., notification vibrations), transferred them to the watch, and called it a day. But they didn’t. Someone stepped back and thought “The fact that this product is touching you *means* something; there may be value in a new kind of communication.” First-rate thinking.

6.  Sketch. Time will tell if this perspective matters, but it’s as if the Sketch aspect of Digital Touch combines the best of Instagram (pictures) with Twitter (brevity) and Snapchat (the moment). And speed, a fourth attribute, was inherent in the demo examples.

7.  The design, including the bands. The budget and attention here likely rivals the entire investment that any of Apple’s competitors put into their first-generation programs. Perhaps by a multiple. Ditto with the “making of” videos that Apple showed.

8.  Heart rate sensor. The difficulty is in getting accurate readings. Let’s see how well Apple Watch performs, and how it addresses the challenges.

9.  The incumbents. There is SO MUCH here that traditional watchmakers can’t touch. In short, everything in blue in the chart above. Why? Because of everything else in all the other charts in this article.

10.  This is what it takes. This – all this new hardware and all this new software – is what it takes to launch a new category, and to have a shot at success. (And this doesn’t even get into the product management, marketing, and point-of-sale excellence that’s also required.)

A user interface tailored to the form. A communication method tailored to the context. A design that is careful and considerate, rather than a cost-reduced imitation of design. And the custom hardware, software, and manufacturing that optimizes each of these.

These achievements embody Jony Ive’s comment to Ian Parker of the New Yorker. (The quoted words are Jony’s.)

The creation of Apple products required “invention after invention after invention that you would never be conscious of, but that was necessary to do something that was new.”

 

A DIFFERENT FOCUS

How is Apple able to do this, while competing smartwatches (e.g., Samsung Gear models) deliver features like an “IR blaster”? I don’t think the answer is “complicated”, but it is a multi-part answer, best saved for later. (Many people have a perspective and, by helping my former company compete against Apple, I have mine.) For now, here’s a short version.

At the highest level, it has to do with company identity. Identity reflects the values of the founder(s), and it determines whether a company chooses to prioritize the new or the familiar, and whether it values quality or quantity. In turn, this drives resource focus: where a company allocates its resources – people, processes, technology.

Mobile Forward 00045 2015-03-30

Apple allocates more resources than other mobile companies (call them “component integrators”) in two key areas: Product Direction and Technology Development. The “vision thing” and the “invention thing”. It chooses new problems to solve for consumers, and it creates the technology to do so. That’s the short answer to “how is Apple able to do this?”

In contrast, most other mobile device makers either don’t invent, or they do so very sporadically. If you peered into each and counted the number of leaders, engineers, product managers, assets, and hours devoted to i) identifying new jobs to be done and ii) creating new technology to solve them, you might be surprised. Mostly, they purchase standard, complex components and work hard to integrate them into products.

Mobile Forward 00050 2015-03-30

 

To be clear, component integrators are important companies. They serve a valuable role: they help many of us get effective, reliable, reasonably-priced products. And the engineers at these companies are some of the best in the world. Component integration that is high quality, fast to market, and cost-effective is quite difficult.

But integration is not invention. As a company of invention, Apple conducts both broader and deeper exploration, it demonstrates the ability to take on higher risk, and it often reaps the resulting greater reward.

A DIFFERENT OUTCOME

Invention and integration produce different outcomes for the companies that specialize in either. Generally speaking, the differences are in performance and impact.

  • Performance. By shaping their technologies, companies that invent increase their ability to shape their products. Invention enables differentiation. Differentiation – or doing valuable jobs in a better way — enables healthy pricing, and healthy profit. That’s why, in smartphones for instance, the vast majority (~ 99%) of the operating profits belong to the companies that invent the most: Apple and Samsung. Invention isn’t the *only* driver behind their performance, but it’s a major driver. The component integrators, in contrast, have been disrupted. (See Nokia, BlackBerry, Motorola, and HTC.) And Xiaomi? Yes, selling a product for minimal profit will move a lot of units, but the company has yet to make a significant profit.
  • Impact. Component integrators, by virtue of (mostly) competing on price, help spread technology across the world. That’s important and valuable. But inventing companies also do this. They don’t do it via rock-bottom prices; they do it by offering functionality that’s both powerful and inspirational. Moreover, inventing companies do something that component integrators can’t: they shape the future, they push frontiers. They introduce the hardware, software, apps, or services that previously didn’t exist or weren’t polished enough for mass consumption. They create the NEW. And if it’s good enough, soon others make something similar.

Component integrators bring new advances to market, too (BlackBerry: the keyboard; Samsung: the phablet; Nokia: PureView camera; Motorola: Moto Voice). It’s just that companies that invent are able do so repeatedly and more frequently.

That’s what makes Apple – one of many technology inventors – so fascinating: watching it perform well, stumble at times, and watching it move mobile forward.

Welcome to Mobile Forward. Please email me with questions or comments.

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Filed Under: Apple, Innovation, Interface, Processors, Product Development, R&D, Sensors, Smartwatches, Technology - Gen'l, watchOS

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