From Smart to Super

The mobile growth story in India should really be looked at as a course of multidimensional evolution. When this evolution started, it was mainly aimed at addressing and overcoming the great challenge of staying connected. This was very effectively accomplished in record time. ‘From no connectivity to wireless connectivity’ was the earlier push that created a big bang in the Indian telecom market. Over a period of 10 odd years, a better quality of service evolved that encompassed changes such as voice clarity , quicker delivery of text messages & emails. This was an important but basic step.

Today, voice is almost passé. The mandate of the common mobile user nowadays is loud and clear – Social Networking, Instant Messaging, Entertainment and multimedia content and, perhaps, a bit of email. A good way to look at this is to consider that even if voice calling was free, you probably wouldn’t call your friend multiple times a day. On the other hand, data services are a window to a whole lot of content that the user wants through the day. The great thing here is that the mobile phone is not only something that is personal but, added to that, if it can perform well enough to meet most of your immediate requirements, then you don’t need to fire up your PC or laptop to surf the internet or see the latest cricket scores. There has also been a distinct change in consumption patterns. A lot  less people are watching long TV shows, while a lot more want  to “snack” on 3 minute videos off the net, which they don’t mind watching on their small screen. It is no wonder then that, almost across all social classes, the mobile phone has become the ubiquitous & personal media & communication device!

While the consumption preference   seems to be inclined towards going the way of data over voice, it is being complemented by the advent of smart phones. This is leading to people quickly upgrading and replacing their feature phones with new touch screen-enabled multimedia-playing, 3G-compatible smart phones. But, this shift in the Indian mobile user’s buying behavior, towards better features like, enriched multimedia experience and entertainment comes with a big drawback. Although Smart phones are better compared to feature phones they are more complex to use and come nowhere near the easy usage characteristics of the trust old feature phones.

Therefore, the conundrum is a toss-up between features vs. ease of use / convenience.

Mobile Devices & handset manufacturers have already taken note of this big poser and are already spending many dollars on “uncomplicating” the smartphone without compromising on features and speed. They are coming out with what the industry is beginning to call the Superphone. I believe this will be another game changer in the industry.

Google coined the term “superphone” when they launched their Nexus One. The company described the device as optimized from a silicon perspective, a hardware perspective and a software perspective. What we must however remember is that the end users are least interested in the silicon, hardware and software application inside the phone. What they want is a phone that is powerful, yet easy and convenient to use.

So, if we were to sum up what mainly appeals to the mobile user in general terms, it is: a superphone that has deeper access to hardware capabilities, where the hardware is a step above what you would  see in a smartphone; screens that are larger, in excess of four inches, in some cases; there is an  impressive camera, generally between five and eight mega pixels, that lends itself to high-quality photo and video capturing; has multiple microphones with noise cancellation for better sound, both for calls and video recording. In other words, the multimedia capabilities are well placed in this generation of mobile phone. The software applications that drive the enhanced hardware connect the various features seamlessly and are highly intuitive to bring you a unified super experience. For example, the camera takes a high res picture, then offers tools to help you modify the picture as per your needs, then out pops an interface that helps you share the modified picture with your social network via email, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and also connects you to that particular application for you to further interact with your network. Not too bad for something that fits in your pocket.

The scenario in India is not too far behind the West as some Indian brands are becoming very active on this front. After all, the Indian mobile market in the top 20 cities of India is considered to be action packed and mature. Although the users are drawn to features offered by the mobile device, ultimately how these features are presented to them could be the key differentiator. Can they put together this bundle of magic in an uncomplicated package with enhanced but easy user experience?

That is the million dollar question.