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

[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]

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

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 the point is: rather than selling unnecessary or useless 'features' at high cost or dumping outdated technology at low cost, why not design something simple and robust and inexpensive but takes advantage of new technology?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

[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"

[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

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.

"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.

Two sim cards

[Weezul]

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