Mobile Phone Design's Finer Grain
From "Hoping to Make Phone Buyers Flip" in the NYTimes:
A case in point: A few years ago one of Nokia’s designers visited China and noticed that people there used the light from their mobile phone screens to illuminate dark hallways so they could more easily unlock their doors. After he discussed his observation with other Nokia designers, Nokia added a penlight to some models.
“Design used to be inconsequential: just make it pretty, make it sell,” said Mr. Newman, who, along with three members of his team, was interviewed at Nokia’s design center near a strip mall in downtown Calabasas, north of Los Angeles. Now, he said, “we have to think about human fundamentals.” [...]
Nokia has not announced when the phone or battery will go on sale and is still working on their designs. If they arrive soon, though, Nokia’s marketers could try to ride the wave of eco-friendly products, like the increasingly popular Prius, that have captured consumers’ fancy.
When asked if they felt pressure to design new phones more quickly in an increasingly competitive market, Mr. Chipchase responded with a quizzical stare. “Why do you want to innovate faster?” he asked. “Are you innovating something gimmicky just to sell a product? Or is it saving the planet you are after?”
Not every company lets their designers be so idealistic. Some are more focused on investor expectations for profits than lofty research. “There is an awful lot of pressure to keep the wheels turning instead of putting money into new innovation and development,” said Rita Gunther McGrath, a professor at Columbia Business School who studies innovation at big companies.
Gong Szeto
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