UIQ’s famous ‘e-words’
In what seems to be a recently published article at UIQ Technology’s website, Mats Barvesten, EVP Product & Ecosystem at UIQ Technology, sheds some light on a series of interesting areas. One of these is an area of the so-called ‘e-words’.
Enable, evolve and expand - these are UIQ Technology’s three famous ‘e-words’, and according to Mats they basically describe UIQ’s product strategy. Personally, I agree with this, but what’s funny to me is that the experience ‘e-word’ is somewhat missing. Yes, somewhat. Curiously enough, Mats describes UIQ with these three words, quickly followed by a statement that UIQ makes it possible for manufacturers to create the best user experience. Ah, there it was! Judging by the rest of the answers to the, by UIQ, self-made questions, user experience is quite important to UIQ. One of the small hints might be the fact that there will “be a different balance between the phone display and the rest of the hardware” over the next five years. Major hint? Definitely.
If you’re not much of a math geek, I’ll do the math for you:
User experience + “a different balance between the phone display and the rest of the hardware” = finger-optimised user interface with graphically stunning effects
That’s a no-brainer, don’t you think? UIQ’s first step at enhancing the user experience was the announcement of UIQ 3.3. That software update brought enhanced web experience via widgets, and it also brought along several media experience enhancements.
My guess is that the next step will be expanding the web experience and media on mobile devices, and connecting them, one way or another. Yet another market demand is that the user wants to feel like he / she is part of the experience. One way of doing this is by finger input, which is something we’ve seen the tip of the iceberg of in Sony Ericsson’s latest UIQ phones, G700 and G900. Flashy effects and generally a more fun way of using the device is definitely next on UIQ Technology’s to-do list. When will we see it? Only time can tell, but I wouldn’t fear claiming it’ll happen in 2008.
I’ll leave you with just one quote by Mats about input methods; “The mobile environment is a critical environment which requires several options and we haven’t seen much yet.”
Loading ...
(Of course, not with SE and Motorola on board..)