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MARKETS & TECHNOLOGY TRENDS KISS PRINCIPLE HAMMERED HOME BY SIRVALUSE CE MANUFACTURING CONSULTANT SAYS CONCEPTS SHOULD BE SIMPLER TIM BOSENICK – TESTING MARKETER – SIRVALUSE Since its foundation in May 2000, SirValUse has been testing interfaces of any kind for usability. Their goal and aim: Optimum usability and utility. The industry is heading towards more complex products that are sometimes difficult to use. So the manufacturers tend to put a lot of functions in their products and the users get more confused using them. We see that a lot, some people can’t even use their remote controls. But what things companies should be taking into account at the moment? The most important thing is to ask users about their opinions and needs before developing a product. One of the main reasons why products fail is because there are too many functions all on the same un-prioritized level. So what companies need to do is to go through all the functions, define the important ones, and put those prominently in the interface. Are there some examples you can mention? Yes for example, for DVD recorder, what do you do with it? Burn a DVD, record on it, install it, or view recorded TV shows? These 3-4 functions should be highly prioritized and all the others buttons or functions should be hidden somewhere because these functions are what users 80% of the time with their DVD recorders. So as you said, products are getting more complicated. Are there any examples of companies that are doing a good job simplyfing products? Well the most famous company is Apple. They were not the first with the iPod, some companies offered a similar machine before, but the Apple version was fun to use with the click wheel. So that is a good example. Other examples include Panasonic. You were talking about user experience management and this is something people are talking about. What is it? Download Podcast at w w w.ifa-international.org This is something that tries to manage all the customer’s touch points that a company has with its clients. For example, if you produce a DVD recorder, you have the POS touch points, the device itself, but also selfserver touch point on the web. You probably have a hotline… and all this should lead to a positive experience. Whenever somebody meets the company, it should be a positive experience. So user experience management describes how these experiences are generated or optimised. Interestingly enough, in the UK and the US there are some management level employees called “customer experience directors” who are parallel to marketing directors. This is interesting because in Europe and the US it is becoming important to retain customers, rather than just gain new ones. Customer experience management is about retaining customers and making good customers into loyal customers. PERSONAL VIEWERS: SONY AND APPLE EYE ACCELERATING GROWTH Insight Media have announced the release of their “Personal Viewer” Report. The publisher of the report is the McLaughlin Consulting Group. Personal viewer sales growth is indeed accelerating. Now that personal viewers (headmounted displays or personal eyewear) have become competitive, sales of consumer personal viewers are accelerating each year, up from 50% in 2006 toward 100% growth in 2008. Consumer markets are forecast to grow to .1B in the base line forecast and .8B in the upside scenario. Faster growth is being driven by: • Decline in cost of microdisplays and components • Consumer acceptance of QVGA resolution and availability of VGA • Increased volume for all headsets and headset components • Anticipated entry of major players (Sony, Apple) into the market. The “Anywhere, Anytime Infotainment” revolution is under way and it is spurring use of Personal Viewers. Key factors include: • Rocketing increases in flash memory price/performance • Popularity of “pocket video platforms” such as iPod, mobile phones, and personal video players • Dramatic increases in content availability and portability • Video viewing and exchange popularity with consumers - Increasing use of camera phones to take video - Internet video-sharing websites (YouTube and similar) - Increasing availability of video for purchase on the Internet. Personal Viewers offer a comfortable way to view an acceptable-sized image on a pocket video platform maintaining portability. while pocket Next Generation Designs Today’s personal viewers only provide video images and they can limit the visibility of the environment. To overcome these limitations, Sony and Apple are developing the next generation personal viewer: the navigation / video sunglasses. These products will offer navigation features in full see-through mode as well as video viewing with a clip-on to block the background. These clipons will be available to provide limited blocking of the environment for peripheral viewing, or full blocking of the environment to enable video immersion when desired. This is similar to the clip-on sunglass options. This new versatile product generation will further accelerate acceptance and sales of personal viewers. The large and profitable market for personal viewers and for military use, already surpassing B in sales in 2008, will continue to grow to nearly B in 2012. Higher military sales are being driven by deployment of enhanced night vision viewers offering thermal imaging as well as night vision, increased used of thermal weapons sights and helmet-mounted displays, and the trend toward higher definition, color displays in military weapons systems. For further details on the report: Insight Media, Annmarie Gabisch, (203) 831-8464, annmarie@insightmedia.info IFA International • Monday, 25 th August 2008 www.ifa-international.org 15
