Tuesday, 11 March 2008 - 10:00AM
Abstract:
The iPhone may be the most disruptive technology of this decade. The countless ubiquitous computing tools available to User Experience professionals mean convenience and usability headaches. With boundaries blurring between web and mobile, how will the UX discipline change? This panel explores challenges for designing Rich Internet Applications for multiple devices.Kyle Outlaw Sr Information Architect, Avenue A | Razorfish
Kate Ryan (Moderator) - Sr Content Strategist, Ten Digital
Scott Jenson - Google
Karen Kaushansky - Sr UX Engineer, Tellme
Loic Maestracci - Dir of Mktg, Groove Mobile
The iPhone represents about 200+ patent filings and 150 million in development.
Kaushansky:
Goal is “voice in” direct to data out.
“mobile” is not a descriptive enough word for the multiplle contexts the user could be using the device within.
Jensen:
His job thus far has ben to make Google work on crap browsers.
The iPhone, with its full browser support, has changed the playing field.
Outlaw:
site: designblog?
The iPHone will be extremely disruptive within the tech and UX.
Sees his business becoming part agency - part lab
smartpox.com - app that creates 2D bar codes to be read by phones
FoodNinja - app to find restaurants developed for the iPhone.
iPhone loves and dislikes:
- Pro: Scrolling really worked with a finger - not as an afterthought.
- Con: The iPhone does not yet do the simple task of being a phone or SMS.
- Pro: Audacity of the design: no menus or scrollbars. Sim that is configured for unlimited data.
- Con: Apple is perpetuating the myth that this is the web.
- Pro: visual voicemail
- Con: Why does it take 5 clicks to make a phone call
- Pro: Simplicity
- Con: perhaps the combo of software and hardware will be its undoing
Jensen: There is always a tendency with any new tech to try to do the same things we did yesterday with it. With the iPhone the innovation will come from left field.
Outlaw: iPhone stripped the device down to its four core features and did them in a satisfying way.
Possible contenders:
the Sidekick - nice keyboard
PSP Slim
Skype (with 3 in the UK)
Jensen: SMS app is poor, but this is a product of Apple designers saying no until it hurt perhaps.
Open Access:
Examples: Google Android or the iPhone SDK
Carriers control the distribution channel and this slows down development
Outlaw: Going into these areas where standards are thin, developers will need newer ways - Agile.
Jensen: Currently, the iPhone is considered a consumer of information, but as battery life and bandwidth improve they will become producers of information.
Outlaw: Phone will cease to be a specialization and succumb to the collision of phone/web/pc. The channels will mix (VOIP calls from a website).
Killer app predictions:
- Luggage search application 
- Using the phone to mediate my data in the cloud
- Infinite battery and bandwidth
http://lifeaftertheiphone.ning.com/