Negroponte, OLPC, AAAS, obese electronics

[Neil Joseph Schelly]

On Tuesday 19 February 2008 15:20, Ben Scott wrote:
> > They don't make it more complex, expensive, or any of that.
>
>   They do indeed make it more complex.  

I disagree.  I have been using nothing but a cell phone for almost a decade 
now.  It's a rare thing when I'm out of service and pick up a landline phone 
to make a call.  The last time I did, I stared at the cordless phone a good 
30 seconds before I could remember/figure out how to dial.  I would suggest 
you're mistaking complexity for different.  It was certainly simple by 
today's standards for phones, but that didn't make it easy for me to use.

>   There's actually enough of a problem with this that there is at
> least one manufacturer actively targeting people with poor vision and
> low tech savvy.  http://www.jitterbug.com/  But it's only one carrier,
> I think, and it remains to be seen if they succeed.

That's good to know, but they know and acknowledge that they'll never be a 
mainstream provider of phones and that they are targetting a minority.

>   One could say this is just a very small minority market, and maybe
> it is, but it's hard to find market research to support that when
> there's no choice in the market.

The market research was done by the people making the phones.  You're assuming 
they didn't research it, but they've got a deal going now where people will 
buy a new phone every 6 months to stay up with the latest trends.  That's a 
market most companies would kill to create - they didn't do it without market 
research, but the goal of their market research is profit, not catering to 
minorities.

>   I actually specifically do want to be rid of the camera.  (Cameras
> are not allowed in certain areas I work in.  Some of those areas do
> permit cell phones.  Don't ask me why; I don't make the rules.)

I'm familiar with that - but again, the market is not arranged for minorities.

>   I have an old, worn-out phone (without a camera) that needs to be
> replaced because it's old and worn-out.  We're also contemplating
> switching carriers.  When either happens, I'll have to join the ranks
> of people leaving their phone+cameras in the basket.

Be more careful with your phone if you're going to complain about new ones?  
Buy in bulk from that JitterBug company and help grow the market you're 
trying to represent?  Support standards-based phones like GSM phones that you 
can own, without complicated contracts, and take with you from one carrier to 
the next, if necessary?

I'm not sayiing that it's an easy position you're in, but the argument I have 
trouble with is the "I don't like new stuff so they should stop making it," 
when it comes to camera phones and the like.  The majority (most profitable) 
of the market either appreciates the new features, or at least doesn't mind 
them enough to offset the minimal cost in including them.  I never wanted a 
camera phone, but when my Treo 650 came with one, I started to use it and it 
comes in handy.  I fit in the majority in that regard, I suspect, and I 
hardly "keep up with the latest trends" since this is my third cell phone in 
the last 10 years and it's getting to be several years old now.
-N