An article on Emerging Markets by Neil Clavin, in Vodafone’s online magazine Receiver, highlights how important the non-Western populations are (if that is the right term) to the mobile operators, device manufacturers, and general technology presence in these nations.
This is a fascinating subject to me as I am fully entrenched in the usage, and research, of mobile devices as an enhancement to my life, or someone that has a lifestyle similar to me (a young professional, technology literate, certain amount of disposable cash – essentially a relatively luxury lifestyle in world terms). It is clear that is not the only viewpoint to have!
The article also links to avery interesting presentation by Jan Chipchase of Nokia entitled “Literacy, Communication & Design“. Here is a video of the accompanying talk at the LIFT ‘07 Conference:
{A Powerpoint version of the slides can be found here}
July 18, 2008 at 12:06 am |
That talk raises some interesting questions, and fails to address some important points.
Illiterate people manage to learn to drive/pass driving tests, barter, earn a living every day. They pay bills – How do they do that on a phone with awkward tariffs? (may imply wholesale changes in how phones are marketed, and contracts (which cannot be read!) are drawn up).
Many are elderly, and have additional problems of poor dexterity and failing eyesight. With all that said, as in many “disabilities”, their human nature often takes advantage of other skills to get-round these and many other issues.
July 18, 2008 at 10:33 am |
You’re right, in that the talk raises these issues as talking points without really delving into some of the existing ’solutions’. There are many varied and thoroughly interesting ‘work arounds’ that are used by some functionally illiterate.
Jan Chipchase, the speaker in the above presentation also has a talk available to see at the TED conference that touches on this subject (I’m sure you’ve seen it
. I guess that you could also accuse that talk of not really giving us a great deal of answers.
His web log, however goes into further detail and there is a very intersting essay on shared phone practices.
On the subject of phone design for an illiterate, here are some interesting thoughts by Satish Bahiri on the design of a phone for the illiterate
I really am a novice when it comes to the idea of illiteracy in society, so I have more questions than answers. Other than an increasing personal interest in the subject, I am now more aware of the importance of such markets to the operators and device manufacturers. With such high penetration rates in
‘the West’developed world it is only natural the such companies want to tap into a market that is far from saturation – it just so happens that the market has some different characteristics…