In my first journalism class, the instructor gave us an acronym to remember-KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. Little did I know I would some day work in acronym central, otherwise known as the wireless industry.
In designing wireless devices, the KISS advice also holds true. Just like people want to be able to easily digest a news article, they want to be able to easily use their wireless devices. In wireless device design, the word bandied about is “intuitive.”
As the Nobel Prize in Physics lauds the fathers of information technology, i.e., semiconductors and computer chips, it is important to remember the reason cell phones, CD players and computers are so popular is because they are easy to use; their benefits are obvious. You dial a mobile phone in basically the same way as you dial a landline phone. The differences, such as no dial tone on a wireless call, are so minor that they aren’t obstacles. Likewise, mouses on computers are so simple you don’t really need to practice Solitaire to learn how to use it properly. And touch pads are even easier to use.
As the wireless industry moves customers beyond basic dialing to Internet access and third-generation applications, devices must become more intuitive to be popular.
Wireless devices have a ways to go to get to this “intuitive Nirvana.” At PCS GlobalXChange, Handspring Inc. Founder Jeff Hawkins commented that his VisorPhone PDA has a button on its side that allows the user to switch between a vibrate and ring alert. “Why doesn’t everyone do that,” he questioned.
Why indeed, I repeated to a colleague.
I then discovered I have a vibrate option on my phone, but it took 10 minutes to find and is not nearly as intuitive as a sliding button on the side of the handset.
Handspring’s VisorPhone looks pretty easy to use, but its writing technology demands letters be made a certain way. Palm has introduced a miniature keyboard (for lengthy note-taking) that looks like a pain in the neck to use, even though it is easier to use than some other devices.
Bluetooth technology promises to really make users’ lives easier by enabling devices to exchange information wirelessly without much thought. Imagine, no more fumbling for business cards at trade shows. Just exchange information over your Bluetooth device.
It’s simple. People want to be able to use wireless technology, but the brains for these devices needs to be stored under the hood, not in the mind of the user.
