Elgan: In search of the super easy super-phone

Computerworld - MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte recently railed against complexity in cell phones, saying that "simplicity is the biggest challenge that handset makers face."

A survey by Opinion Research Corp. found that non-iPhone and non-BlackBerry smart phones were the single most-returned gift during the most recent holiday season; more than one-fifth of those purchased were brought back to stores. Why? The top reason was the inability to understand the setup process.

Returned gadgets are bad enough for the companies that make them, but the survey also found that almost 16% of those polled said that trouble with phone setup "significantly worsened their perception of the company that manufactured the product."

A study conducted last year by the CMO Council's Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience, or FAME, discovered a global phenomenon it called "function fatigue." There are just too many cell phone features that users either don't know how to use or don't want to figure out how to use.

The problem, of course, is that cell phones are sold — and bought — based on capabilities, not on simplicity or the lack of features. They're sold that way because that's what works.

Regardless of what people tell pollsters, cell phone buyers increasingly demonstrate their preference for feature-rich devices. The fastest-growing segment in the cell phone handset market, of course, is for so-called smart phones, which is expected by at least one analyst to quadruple worldwide in the next two and a half years.

Something else is happening. As phones get "better" — or at least more capable — user expectations rise along with it. But lately, it seems, expectations are soaring ahead of what the industry is providing. I don't have any data to prove it, but my own observation is that even the most enthusiastic cell phone users these days just aren't all that enthusiastic. A lot of would-be upgraders aren't upgrading because they're blasé about what's available. And the fact that some users resort to extremes, such as carrying both a BlackBerry and an iPhone, suggest that the industry isn't producing the phone many of us really want.

I think everyone — from inexperienced, nontechnical, everyday users to advanced, rabid technophiles — is clamoring for the next leap in smart phone usability. We all want a phone that's superpowerful, does it all, but is brain-dead easy to use.

Can it be done? And if so, who's likely to do it? Microsoft and its partners? Palm? Apple? Google, with its Android platform? European or Asian handset manufacturers?

More really is better

The reason the cell phone has become the Mother of All Convergence Devices is that a cell phone is the one gadget we can't live without. A recent study conducted by IT research firm IDC and paid for by Nortel Networks found that most respondents would rather leave their keys and wallet behind than their cell phones.