Time For A Little Customer Segmentation In Handset Design
from the one-size-doesn't-fit-all... dept
Lots of people have been pointing out that traditional mobile phones don't work very well for old people or very young people. In the last few months, it looks like the industry has finally started to take notice. It wasn't that surprising that Korea led the way with more targeted handset design based on the age of users, but now firms around the world are clearly trying to figure out how to design phone handsets for people of all ages and lifestyles. While the idea isn't new, what's good to see is that the industry seems to at least be much more open towards the idea of offering a wider variety of handsets, rather than focusing on "one-size-fits-all" models. Of course, this also raises questions about manufacturing costs, since the economies of scale won't be as big -- but that could just push the handset design further towards cheaper Chinese manufacturers. The real issue is that the more diverse phones are better for the mobile carriers, since (they hope) phones that are better designed for subscribers will get more use, leading to more revenue. Of course, that doesn't necessarily translate directly back to the handset makers who don't make a cut of the ongoing data revenue. All this means that ongoing battle between the carriers and the handset makers is only likely to intensify.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Don't Cell Phones Turn you into a Mass Murderer?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
All I want for Xmas ...
One without an Mp3 player,
without bluetooth,
without games,
and ringtones,
and calorie counters,
that take pictures,
and voice messages,
and vibrate,
and bleep,
and picture, ringer, caller ID the person to the wall if they call ...
type of phone.
Something simple.
One that my Mom won't hand me on Christmas day and gloriously yell : " How the fuck do you make this god damn thing turn off ? "
... oh, that's also what I want for christmas Santa ...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: All I want for Xmas ...
Please Santa, I've been real good all year !
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: All I want for Xmas ...
I'd love a phone with bluetooth and a camera and vibrate, and ringtones so I can make it sound like a real phone not a casio keyboard.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: All I want for Xmas ...
The only assumption made here is that you assume I want a dumbed down phone for a dumb person. Nothing could be further from the truth ! My Mom & Dad are both well educated intelligent people.
Simplicity is the key word.
They simply don't WANT all those features !
They want a phone to make and receive phone calls ... how novel !
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: All I want for Xmas ...
Of course we " could " give you a 10% dicount on your monthly phone bill ... but that too, would be discriminatory ...
[ link to this | view in thread ]