Nokia's Cellphone Anthropologist

holy_calamity writes "New Scientist have an interview with a Nokia researcher who uses anthropological methods to study how people use their phones. His work currently focuses on watching how people in emerging markets like Africa use their devices to inform designs. For example, after finding that in Uganda many people use one handset, they shipped a version with multiple separate address books. There's also a slideshow of Chipchase's research images."

Comments

multiple separate address books

[lucas teh geek]

my phone is pretty ancient so perhaps it's a common feature now, but multiple address books sounds like something that would be useful everywhere, not just Uganda. being able to separate work contacts, from social contacts and from old school contacts would be great.

Re:multiple separate address books

[srothroc]

I think it's a common feature; it's not really touted as being "multiple address books", but rather as the ability to separate contacts into groups.

I don't actually remember if any of my US cell phones had it, though I feel like they did. My cell phones here in Japan certainly do, though.

Re:multiple separate address books

[merreborn]

being able to separate work contacts, from social contacts and from old school contacts would be great.

I picked up a $40 LG phone at AT&T with their "pay as you go" plan a couple of months ago, and it has this feature. And not much else.

Re:multiple separate address books

[maxume]

My $30 junker phone has categories. I think it will do an arbitrary amount of phone numbers for each contact, but I don't know that many people with 2 cell phones...

Re:multiple separate address books

[Bandman]

I've had two blackberries so far, and both have the annoying habit of defaulting any phone number to the "work" field.

It probably shouldn't make me as mad as it does, but it's a pain in the ass to have to retype every single number. If only there was an option to set "Default phone field" or something similar

Re:multiple separate address books

[maxume]

My $30 phone is an LG. I can go into the entry for a contact, select a number and then edit the category associated with that number. It would seem like a smart phone would have a similar capability.

Re:multiple separate address books

[Bandman]

Yes, but that would imply a blackberry was a smart phone. It's much more like a mentally challenged phone with severe acne.

Re:multiple separate address books

[Anonymous Coward]

my phone is pretty ancient so perhaps it's a common feature now, but multiple address books sounds like something that would be useful everywhere, not just Uganda. being able to separate work contacts, from social contacts and from old school contacts would be great.

I suspect the Ugandan cell phones would have separate passwords to access each address book, something lacking in the western versions using groups.

Cellphones as "enablers"

[HishamMuhammad]

Interesting to see the big players noticing the possibilities in the lower end markets. In the so-called third world we often get expensive products that were designed for rich markets that don't even fit our needs (eg, videogames with network support when the actual services are not offered in our country). Hopefully we'll see more companies designing different products for different economic realities, instead of just dumping 5-year old designs here once they get "cheap enough for the third world".

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[Xolotl]

That's not the point ... the point is: rather than selling unnecessary or useless 'features' at high cost or dumping outdated technology at low cost, why not design something simple and robust and inexpensive but takes advantage of new technology?

This is the approach Renault took for the Dacia Logan car ... and it is proving very successful.

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[zappepcs]

There is a simple reason for it. If they were to introduce a simple and robust phone, people in developed countries would cry out for it, and their overpriced complex phones with features that will never get used will not sell anymore.

I just added two lines to my plan and got $450 worth of phones for free. I'm trying to figure out why anyone would pay. Yes, certainly the contract time pays for the phone, but if I could use no contract, a simple robust phone would be fantastic. I'd not spend money on the things.

That, my friend, is why they don't do it.

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[infaustus]

Completely right. Actually, the Dacia Logan the GP uses as an example is actually becoming very popular in France, not just the less developed markets it was designed for.

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[Miseph]

Yes, damn them for forcing automobiles to not be death traps at a relatively small dollar cost.

Why not bitch that your seat belt restricts your movement while you're at it... we'll just pretend that paralysis isn't such a huge restriction on movement too.

The real reason that India has $3000 cars and we don't is that it simply costs more to manufacture and sell a car here than it does in India, no matter what features or devices are included or required. A single US dollar is simply worth more in India than it is the US.

As for motorcycles... I've known paramedics who just assume any motorcyclist who gets in a crash is likely to be an organ donor by the time they get to the scene. They probably should be illegal on safety grounds, but it's just such an unpopular proposition that it will never fly.

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[grcumb]

There is a simple reason for it. If they were to introduce a simple and robust phone, people in developed countries would cry out for it, and their overpriced complex phones with features that will never get used will not sell anymore.

That's untrue, at least in my experience.

The incumbent monopoly in the developing country where I live never showed any interest in selling glitzy phones. In fact, the phones they offered were cheaper, more robust and simpler than what you could get just down the road.

Just this year, the telecoms monopoly has been terminated and the latest entrant is even more intent on offering phones that are well-suited to this tropical environment. When they set up shop in nearby Papua New Guinea, they were offering two pre-paid phones for the equivalent of about USD 15.

Telcos in the developing world know which side their bread is buttered on. They provide a service, not a product. With the introduction of competition here, the two telcos are fighting for mindspace based on coverage, call quality and price. Selling reliable phones - even packaging them with solar charging kits - is the only way they can ensure a reliable revenue stream.

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[Free the Cowards]

Design cost is enormous, frequently outweighing manufacturing cost even for large runs of units. It is, quite simply, cheaper to make one design and sell it everywhere than it is to make a new "cheap" design without these useless features. You'd end up paying more and getting less, and what would be the point?

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[dave1791]

The GP is not asking for a G3 iPhone. He is asking for phones actually designed for his market instead of hand me downs designed for usage patterns that don't match the way people use phones where he is. This is exactly what this guy at Nokia does btw. There is also money to be made in the high volume, low margin business.

The Toyota Innova that I drive now was designed in Indonesia for third world markets. Is it less sophisticated that the Renault Espace that I had in Germany? Yes. Is it suitable for the Autobahns like the renault was? No. Could the Renault handle the monsterous potholes that make Indian roads look like the Rubicon trail? Not in a thousand lifetimes.

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[lilmunkysguy]

Driving without a seat belt makes you a dumbass, but it doesn't hurt anyone else and shouldn't be illegal. From what I understand, the reasoning is it hurts everyone else because we have to pay your medical because you flew through a windshield and can't afford the hospital bill.

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[sznupi]

Then you might be surpised that Nokia does design new "cheap" phones. And it seems it pays off, the first one is both world's best selling phone and best selling consumer electronics device.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_1100
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_1110

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[LucidBeast]

Cheap phones make the money, smart phones make the news.

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[Jellybob]

especially since writing an SMS is hell, or going through any kind of menu structure by ticking in codes that resemble advanced vi ;)

Awesome, where do I get one? And does it support all the features of vi, or just a subset? ;)

iIl c u l8r:wq

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[sjbe]

I just added two lines to my plan and got $450 worth of phones for free. I'm trying to figure out why anyone would pay. A few reasons.

1) In my case the phone I wanted (Nokia E70) was not sold through any carrier in the US. So my options were either get a different phone which suited my needs/wants less or buy the phone myself. I chose the later option.

2) Another reason is that you might want a different phone without a contract extension. Buy a subsidized phone from your carrier and usually you get an extra year or two on your contract for the privilege. Not always a problem but some folks might not want to extend their contract. I certainly never do unless I have to.

3) You want an unlocked phone. Most phones sold through US carriers are locked to their service. You can unlock them yourself usually but it's less aggravation and less risk to just buy it unlocked to begin with.

4) You are buying the phone for travel purposes and don't want a contract along with the phone since you won't use the phone regularly.

There are other reasons. I'm not against the practice of subsidizing phonesbut I haven't bought a subsidized phone for 7 or 8 years for various reasons. There are lots of good reasons to buy phones directly yourself.

Yes, certainly the contract time pays for the phone, but if I could use no contract, a simple robust phone would be fantastic. I'd not spend money on the things. That, my friend, is why they don't do it. Many services are pay-per-use, even in wealthy countries. Low income folks don't have $50-100/month to pay for a contract. Or they are like my grandmother who just wants a phone for emergencies but won't use it otherwise. You're right that the phone companies like the contracts (predictable revenues and all that) but that business model isn't feasible everywhere.

Stale Contacts

[camperdave]

One feature I'd like to see on a phone (I don't have one, so I don't know if this exists or not), is a date of last contact field. I hate phoning someone that I haven't spoken to in a while only to find out that their number has changed. If I had a list of who I hadn't contacted in a while, I could either touch base, or wipe their name.

Re:Stale Contacts

[nbert]

Haven't seen any phone featuring this deliberately. I think it would be also kind of neat to have a plugin for xing or plaxo, which simply updates your contact's numbers whenever they change it, so you don't even have to think about this.

I'd also appreciate a provider field also fed by an online service. Over here people can take their mobile numbers with them when switching providers. Sometimes I'm calling someone with the same operator code in the assumption that I'm using the 1000 minutes I can talk for free calling people on the same mobile network. Of course I could ask whenever I'm calling, but it would be way more convenient to know before I dial...

Market Research?

[Anonymous Coward]

This sounds like market research at a global company, not anthropology.

Re:Market Research?

[Gewalt]

Agreed, and its amazing what happens when any company pays attention to market feedback instead of telling consumers what they want.

TEDTalk

[JustinOpinion]

For those of you who prefer video, here's Jan Chipchase's TED talk, which covers similar topics.

Re:TEDTalk

[vrmlguy]

And here's the NY Times article from two months ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13anthropology-t.html. Covers a lot of the same material, but in greater detail.

Re:Old Hat?

[ztransform]

When I visited Tokyo in March I was amazed just how much more advanced the basic mobile phones are in Japan compared to the top level phones available in Western societies.

Almost all Japanese mobiles have large screens, built in dictionaries for translating between English and Japanese, and have cameras that can 1) read in universal square barcodes that represent web addresses and 2) can read text from a distance.

I wonder if the study also takes into account the different ways societies as a whole use their phone - from the tightly networked gang cultures, to the highly individualistic.

"Anthropologist"

[vision4bg]

Wow, this article just really rubs me the wrong way. Any professional ethnographer worth their salt would see a myriad of problems with this guy and his 'research'. I guess that what happens when you apply for a UI job and end up doing usability research. I am shocked that he finds basic things as multiple SIM card adapters as interesting as he does. These have been around for 10 years and are common in first world countries as well. That plus the bland "phones could be designed to work better" conclusion (taken verbatim from the article) makes it obvious how Nokia have lost their way since their highs of the early 2000s...

Re:"Anthropologist"

[dave1791]

Perhaps these conclusions would be obvious to a professional ethnographer, but you don't find many ethnographer is mobile phone design teams.

It is not unusual for devs to not really understand the actualy usage patterns of their products in the field. The people creating the products often lave limited or no actual contact with users. The contact is mediated through product managers or "product definition" people, with a loss of fidelity. This happens for a couple of reasons:

1 - As soon as someone has a contact number or email address in development, that dev becomes the go to person for everything, even if it is unrelated. So companies try to shield their developers from the end users to enable them to remain productive.

2 - Devs are not often well versed in the company line and might say things about roadmaps and whatnot that the company would rather not have said.

Incedentially, I agree with you, but that is the lay of the land.

Re:2 Numbers / 1 Phone?

[PPH]

It must exist. I've seen one of those old Mororola bricks that had multiple line capability years ago.

Technology dosn't move backwards (Windows Vista excepted).

Re:Old Hat?

[sqrt(2)]

That post took a strange turn the last few lines.

The US could learn a few things from Uganda. :)

[Shag]

I've been to Uganda (and Kenya) a few times, and there are some things I'd like to see in the US.

1. Basically all phones are sold unlocked, from the cheapest to the most full-featured.
2. A SIM card, usually with an hour's service on it, costs about $1. (Pertinent to the article, I have friends who have 1 phone and multiple SIMs - one for work, one for personal use)
3. Reasonably priced prepaid service is widely available.
4. Incoming calls don't cost money.
5. International texts are at most twice the cost of domestic ones.

In Uganda - and a lot of other developing countries - people are a lot more likely to have mobiles than landlines anyway. If you've got electricity, and cell coverage, that mobile is pretty handy, since the telco will want an arm and a leg to actually run wires out to your place.

Two sim cards

[Weezul]

I'd love a phone that supports two sim cards. :(