Choices brings comfort or headaches???
What's the common perception, does it lead to success of a product or failure.
Read more...
Friday, December 8, 2006
Features Vs Usability
What will you prefer- feature rich product or a usable product!!!!
Do people buy products for the features it has or for the ease of use... Whats your opinion??? Read more...
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Do you enV?
The new enV phone from LG Electronics for Verizon gets the big picture — at least in one respect. It is the first LG phone to have a two-megapixel camera built in.
The enV (yes, it’s pronounced “envy”) is large by current mobile phone standards, at roughly 4½ by 2 by ¾ inches. It flips open to reveal a screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio that is designed for showing photos and video, along with stereo speakers for music and a QWERTY keypad for text messages.
The camera offers a number of settings, like a range of image sizes, a timer, flash, four levels of white balance for different indoor or outdoor lighting and shutter sounds that include a childlike voice urging, “Say cheese.”
Source:NYtimes.com
Your smartphone as a web cam!
A marriage made in heaven? Why splash out on a separate webcam for your laptop or PC when your camera-equipped smartphone can do the same job, wirelessly?
Mobiola Web Camera for S60 3rd Edition
Source: Allaboutsymbian.com
Nokia's Roller-Coaster Report
Mixed results highlight strength at the top and bottom of the market and weakness in the mid-range, where Motorola and Samsung continue to gain
Is the glass half empty or half full? Mobile phone giant Nokia (NOK) reported third-quarter results Oct. 19 that contained both impressive growth and worrisome signs of weakness. Revenues rose 20%, to $12.7 billion, and handset shipments hit a record high of 88.5 million units in the quarter, up 33% from a year earlier. Nokia's market share also ticked up to just below 35%, according to market researcher IDC.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2006/gb20061019_008187.htm?chan=tc&chan=technology_technology+index+page_tech+investing
Nokia's Roller-Coaster Report
Mixed results highlight strength at the top and bottom of the market and weakness in the mid-range, where Motorola and Samsung continue to gain
Is the glass half empty or half full? Mobile phone giant Nokia (NOK) reported third-quarter results Oct. 19 that contained both impressive growth and worrisome signs of weakness. Revenues rose 20%, to $12.7 billion, and handset shipments hit a record high of 88.5 million units in the quarter, up 33% from a year earlier. Nokia's market share also ticked up to just below 35%, according to market researcher IDC.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2006/gb20061019_008187.htm?chan=tc&chan=technology_technology+index+page_tech+investing
Next-Gen Mobile Phones: Vision vs. Reality
At the ITU telecom-fest in Hong Kong, everyone wants to create a super, do-all, mobile phone. But no one can agree on which network standard to use
Mobile phones are destined to evolve into all-purpose digital appliances that will pack awesome processing power and operate at blistering data speeds that will seamlessly connect to the Internet and handle such tricks as video streaming on 30 or more channels.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/dec2006/gb20061205_230041.htm?chan=tc&chan=technology_technology+index+page_telecom
GPS Navigates Onto Holiday Wish Lists
The navigation devices are more popular than ever this year thanks to lower prices, better performance, and enhanced multimedia capabilities
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061128_130487.htm?&chan=technology_technology+index+page_consumer+electronics
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Slim n Thin
Motorola has recently launched the MOTOKRZR in India. It houses a host of premium multimedia features. It has a 2 MP camera with 8 x zoom or via video capture and playback capabilities. Measuring a mere 16mm thin x 42mm wide x 103mm long and weighing only 3.6 ounces, the MOTOKRZR slips easily into a pocket or purse. The handset has a unique solid glass front, premium craftsmanship, precision detailing and elegant finishes.
Source: The Hindu
Google is god of search right?
Google is god of search right? But Yahoo, the erstwhile king of directory searches, is still popular in the US. And it has come out with a list of its top searches of 2006. While we all too well know what figures mostly on Google's searches, Yahoo's top searches are an interesting mix, mostly dominated by personalities, and topped by Britney Spears and surprisingly WWE!
Source: TOI
What's on your mobile?
Barbie. The Don. TV shows. Sports. What do they have in common? You can get them all on your mobile phone.
The last few months have seen the launches of Hungama's Don video game, ESPN Mobile, Star 7827 `Voice' and Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses. The mobile content market is expected to grow from Rs 558 crore in 2005 to Rs 1,802 crore by 2007, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India. Yet the format of such content is still largely centred on voice or SMS, services that do not require GPRS-enabled phones. While mobile phone ownership in India is growing at a record pace, Internet connectivity is not. So even though ESPN Mobile offers sports content in voice, video, text, SMS and games, it expects its voice and SMS services to be the main attractions.
Source: iSource updates
My connected life!
Today every individual leads a technology driven life. The clock seems to run so fast that you blink and there is a new gizmo waiting to lure you. But more than fashion being a factor, functionality is what lures the smart customers. Brand image comes in here. The customer with closed eyes can keep his finger on a trusted brand and that is the kind of image that Nokia has built for itself in the country.
Lately, the company has unveiled its strategy to lead the mobile digital convergence wave. As a part of this strategy, Nokia Nseries has unveiled 'My Connected Life', a new consumer concept aimed to leverage convergence between Internet, PCs and consumer electronics by bringing all experiences into 'one mobile device'.
As a first step to lead this initiative, Nokia Nseries has showcased the much-awaited Nokia N95. The gadget is a unique 2-way slide with 5-megapixel camera, Global Positioning System, Wireless LAN and 3.5 G HSPDA technology, that allows fast data transfers. It is slated to be available in India in early 2007.
Source: The Pioneer
How about a mobile projector!
Here’s one nifty addition to your cell phone that will make watching video-clips and pictures a much better experience. It’s a mini projector embedded in the cellphone which will allow you to project an image taken on a mobile phone on a wall or board just half a metre away.
The projected image will be the size of a laptop screen. This smart projector, called PicoP has been developed by US-based Microvision. It significantly overcomes the limitations of a small display on the mobile phone. The embedded projector will be great for watching TV on mobile (that should be available in India when 3G services start).
Cellphone-makers like Nokia are looking at integration of such projectors into their phones. The system, composed of semiconductor lasers and a tiny mirror, will be small enough to integrate into a mobile phone or an iPod.
Source: ET
Mobile autograph
Now, you don't have to mob celebrities to get that much desired autograph. Nexmoo solutions has launched an innovative service, `Mobile Autograph', where users can download their favourite celebrity's autograph along with a snapshot on their GPRS mobile phones.
An autographed photograph will cost Rs.15. They will be available in English and in other languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada.
Source: The Hindu
Race in reality with GPS gaming
Location-based gaming is set to hit the Indian market next year. If you believe you are a faster rider than your friend in the next city, you can now set the record straight with a location-based game. Start racing with people anywhere in the world - with the start time, current position and opponent's moves all logged using GPS. With a GPS-enabled gadget, you can receive your exact location in terms of longitude and latitude from satellites. Combined with a digital map of your city (such as Wikimap or Google Map), the user can navigate around the city - with important locations, landmarks and restaurants logged on the mobile. This navigator will open up a whole new window into the gaming universe. Games such as Treasure Hunt, where the user has to find an imaginary treasure hidden in the game zone (city limits) by unravelling clues given on the mobile, are popular in bigger game markets such as the US. As GPS starts to get popular in the country, device makers such as Nokia and Hewlett-Packard are planning to release gadgets for gamers in India.
Source: the Business line
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
MobMart- World’s first mobile-powered auction site
MobMart is the world’s first mobile-powered auction site. To sell something, just snap a picture, send it to 07720 11 00 22 and fill in the simple form. Selling is free.
MobMart is the first auction site to let you do everything from your mobile; sell, browse, bid and pay. Because you’re using your camera phone, you can post video clips too. Create your own TV ads! You can also do everything online at mobmart.com.
In case you’re wondering what to sell, it can be the biggest, the smallest, the craziest, the best video, or just the most well crafted sales pitch.
To browse online, go to http://www.mobmart.com
Source: Feedblitz
Monday, December 4, 2006
Samsung+Microsoft smartphone
Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s largest corporation, joined Microsoft on Monday in launching the first mobile phone in Asia and Europe to use high-speed HSDPA wireless technology. The companies said the phone — the Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 — was the world’s thinnest 3G smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard.
It is also the first smartphone that supports Web applications like podcasts and RSS Feeder, which scans Web sites for updates, the companies said.
Source: ET
Moto is back
US-based Motorola is clearly the hungriest and strongest in the wolf pack of mobile handset makers that is taking on bison-like Nokia in India. The world’s second largest mobile handset maker holds the same position in India, although its market share here is smaller than its global average. Industry estimates suggest that Motorola accounts for around 17 percent of the market, just a fourth or so of Nokia. But then, less than two years ago, the share was half that.
The company has emerged the style warrior with phones very different from Nokia designs. The strategy also shows in model names and the building of sub-brands. The Moto prefix now has unconventional and catchy spellings for sub-brands—Razr, Slvr, Pebl and now Krzr.
Source: The Financial Express
Communication just got more human
An inexpensive ‘speak and listen’ messaging process, Voice SMS gives an emotional dimension to personal messages while businesses could use it to broadcast brief company information on mobiles
Imagine you are driving or rushing down the street to a business appointment, and you receive a text message that requires an urgent response. Unless you are adept at navigating traffic and simultaneously typing out a response, replying to the SMS could be a frustrating experience. And this is where Voice SMS steps in. A new short-messaging service that uses voice instead of text or pictures, it works on any GSM handset and any network. As there’s no infrastructure upgrade or back-end provisioning for operators to worry about, or handset configuration for consumers, an operator’s entire subscriber base has access to the service.
Voice SMS is an inexpensive and non-intrusive ‘speak and listen’ messaging process. It is an alternative to the time-consuming ‘type and read’ process of text SMS. Voice SMS lets you deposit a voice message by dialling the called number with a special prefix. It works across all devices. The benefits of Voice SMS include messaging across networks across countries enabled by the global ecosystem. For Indians, who live in countries like the UK, US and the Middle East, it presents an opportunity for international Voice SMS messaging. It will appeal to people who are more likely to use messaging services than conduct real time conversations. It also gives an emotional dimension to personal messages while businesses could use it to broadcast brief company information on mobiles. In many areas, low literacy level and lack of comfort with text messaging reduces its use. This is where voice messaging fills the gaps.
Source: iSource updates
Mobile sells
Mobile ads get more sophisticated as they try to deliver the best from TV and computer, minus the nuisances Technology has a way of blurring definitions and challenging consumer habits. This time round it is going to further delight—or confuse you if you are technophobic—by bringing the experience of the TV and the computer screen to your mobile screen.
Mobile marketing campaigns that were using SMS, and more recently MMS, have already helped to open up the eyes of the media world to the power of the mobile channel. Interactive TV and radio, product promotions using coupons and competitions, have exploited this medium. Now it is understood that Google has also started testing mobile ads for advertisers in India.
Google Mobile ads are text-based ad formats, which the company began testing with AdWords advertisers in US, UK, Germany and Japan in August 2006. These textbased ads appear along with search results delivered to mobile devices, and they contain either a link to a mobile website or a phone number which users can click on to generate a call. That sounds much like your computer screen during a Google search, doesn’t it?
Source: iSource updates
Nokia 1325 and Nokia 1265 offer strong feature sets at accessible price
Hong Kong, China - The latest entries into the CDMA handset market from Nokia (NYSE: NOK) were unveiled today at the 3G World Congress in Hong Kong. Targeted at consumers who use their mobile phone primarily for basic features like making phone calls voice and text messaging, the Nokia 1265 and Nokia 1325 feature a number of desirable features such as handsfree speakers and voice recorders.
Source: Nokia Press Office
Mobiles get love-savvy
Mobile phones companies have entered the realm of romance. Match-making firms are creating new services that allow people to post their dating profile online and then automatically receive a text message on a GPS-enabled phone when a match is nearby, say, at a coffee shop around the cornerThe phenomenon, also known as “mobile romance”, has already arrived in China. Most Chinese wireless service providers offer dating services to drive text message usage, which in turn creates revenue.
Source: TOI
Sunday, December 3, 2006
What makes a user trust your product?
What makes a user trust your product? What gives him/her feeling of confidence that he/she is using a a product that is trusted? What factors govern the success of a product in terms of user acceptance, trust, safety, and returning users?
Is it the look, interface, speed or features????
The article "http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/usability-newsletter.asp" suggests that its
- Clean interface
- Easy navigation
- Quick response
- Relevant & organized information
- Simple language
Most important, application of the user-centered process.
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