Again: Advertising thoughts

Mike fromlists at talkingspider.com
Sun Jul 15 00:46:12 CEST 2007


I agree with all of this, and I want to add that the aGPS stuff is our 
counter to the iphone's camera.  Inevitably there will be side by side 
comparisons after launch (every phone will be compared to the iphone), 
and the gps is our counter to the camera.

I also think that the general public associates "linux" with "not easy 
to use".

m

Adam Krikstone wrote:
> I'm the guy that did the youtube videos.  For those that would like to 
> hear my opinion on advertising.  This would apply to the public launch.
> 
> 1. Don't mention linux ever.  Refer to things as open, free, 
> unrestricted, etc...  while showing what that means.
> 2. Don't compare the neo side by side with the iphone, WM, etc, 
> especially along the lines of a "PC vs Mac" type commercial. At least at 
> first when things will not be as polished as they should be.  People 
> need to be shown not told how great openmoko is.  You're asking people 
> to try a product with an unknown brand that they have no experience with.
> 3. 95% of all effort after a stable build is completed should go to aGPS 
> applications and use.  No other phone offers aGPS [benefits] for free.  
> People are paying $9.99/month, have to purchase BT GPS puks ($99+), or 
> have nothing at all.  This feature will cross all demographics and 
> should be the main focus.  I can probably list 50 things alone that 
> would make people want this device over anything.
> 4. KISS (keep it simple stupid).  Max of 3 button presses to get to what 
> you want to do. Minimalistic with little to no stylus use.  Menu 
> settings like Basic, intermediate, advanced for options that are 
> displayed---basic being the default.
> 5. The QEMU process of demoing the Openmoko platform needs to be dumbed 
> down tremendously.  "Pre-built Win32 binaries" -- you just lost 99% of 
> all users.  Boot time shortened and a splash to hide text startup.
> 6. There needs to be some kind of openmokoforums.com.  The mailing list 
> will become more useless as "non developers" start using the phone and 
> posting, "My phone doesn't work. Help me." 7.  Most everything else can 
> be designed by taking dumb and going 5 steps below that for a public 
> launch.
> 
> Strengths:
> open source, consumer in control, bugs fixed in days vs months/years
> aGPS
> 
> Weakness:
> Openmoko forks as people fight over what is included.
> lack of developer base
> Poor launch/support.
> 
> Opportunities:
> ***aGPS****
> support for restricted formats (third party repositories)
> USB/BT devices addons, uses, and integration.
> 
> Threats:
> I guess this is FIC's problem.
> 
> 
> Greg Alexander wrote:
>> On Sat, Jul 14, 2007 at 01:52:20PM +0100, Giles Jones wrote:
>>  
>>> I understand where you are coming from. When designing mobile  
>>> interfaces it's not good enough to simply try to cut down the WIMP 
>>> to  fit in a phone. Both Symbian and Windows Mobile both borrow from 
>>> the  desktop. It would be nice if we can think outside the box and 
>>> think  about what is easy to use. Too many touch screen devices don't 
>>> use  screen space well. Make the buttons large and you can use your 
>>> fingers.
>>>     
>>
>> In my opinion, Symbian and Windows Mobile are both thinking outside
>> the box.  This box was invented by Palm and culminated in the Palm Vx.
>> EPOC (Symbian) and Wince both take major departures from the status quo
>> through retard land, resulting in unfortunate products.
>>
>> I think OpenMoko developers would benefit from playing with PalmOS.
>> The applications are as minimal as the iphone apps, but unlike Apple
>> engineering, they rarely demonstrate an infuriating lack of features.
>> There are numerous examples of open source apps which follow the Wince
>> path instead and it drives me batty.
>>
>> I mean, the technology and marketting behind Palm is so retarded, they
>> are essentially making the same device they made 8 years ago but now
>> it costs more and has less battery life.  Few of the core Palm apps
>> actually benefits from the new color screen or ARM core.  Why aren't
>> they completely gone yet?  Because they invented the box, and they
>> did it well.
>>
>>  
>>> If you minimise the time using the stylus then you eliminate a huge  
>>> section of the public who don't want to use a stylus (yes I know the  
>>> Nintendo DS has one and has sold 40 million ;)). I would say the 
>>> main  reason for using the stylus is drawing lines.
>>>     
>>
>> There will be no time using a stylus.  This device does not have an
>> integrated stylus, so the fact that one will work is a red herring.
>> Treat it like an iphone, which will not detect a stylus even if you
>> ram it through the glass.  If you are the one out of ten developers
>> that carries a stylus around with you and uses it for everything, be
>> aware that you are in a minority.
>>
>> The closest the device will see in its actual usage profile is
>> fingernails, which are good at onscreen keyboards and certain fine
>> gestures.  But many people don't have them.
>>
>>  
>>> Using fingers to touch is less precise, but you could have an  
>>> interface that zooms, touch and hold an area to zoom that area, you  
>>> can then touch more accurately the item you want. Would be possible  
>>> with the additional 3D hardware in the consumer hardware.
>>>     
>>
>> Zooming is a horrible UI design and is only necessary to use desktop
>> UIs on palmtops, or of course to view graphical content (maps,
>> photos).  The only situation in which a desktop UI should be used in
>> OpenMoko is in the web browser, and the web browser will need zooming.
>> (sigh)
>>
>> I hope I do not offend...I've just used so many awful palmtop UIs.  The
>> vision of what is "correct" is very clear.  It is a small screen, it
>> should not have more than 5 oversized fingerable buttons across the
>> bottom and five buttons across the top and a thoroughly minimal
>> single-function display in the middle (such as a telephone keypad or
>> a map display).  Anything more "busy" will result in a thrown Neo.
>>
>> The need for occasional text input is a real hang-up, because it can't
>> be done both intuitively and well on the Neo.  I expect we'll see a
>> lot of different text input methods thrown about, hopefully we'll be
>> able to make them all play well together. :)
>>
>> Cheers,
>> - Greg
>>
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>>   
> 
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