On April 24, the Institute of Design hosted Jennifer Kwee, Motorola Product Marketing Manager to host a lecturette about designing the MotoFONE for emerging markets.
For the uninitiated, the MotoFONE is the low price, high design, thin, high battery life, easy to use mobile device that Motorola has introduced for the markets it considers “emerging” (Brazil, China, India, other African countries).
The lecturette, broadly attended by MDes and MDM students, touched on the interaction design of the phone, product form, packaging design, and general market strategies.
Few interesting tidbits for those who could not attend:
* Motorola mostly operates in a retail model in the emerging markets, instead of a carrier model, as in the developed markets (e.g. selling phones directly to retail outlets and local vendors, instead of partnering with Verizon to offer deep discounts on phones with annual contracts).
Translation: The phone has to be extremely cost effective for the value conscious consumer.
* The phone is the first mobile device to make use of Sony’s Electrophoretic display (EPD), which enables users to view the sizable high contrast screen in bright light. The phone’s user interface is almost entirely graphical– with voice prompts translated in local languages.
* The three major challenges to MotoFONE: Distribution, Marketing, and Packaging.
* Motorola suggests that the phone is not feature-rich, like its upmarket phones. I personally feel that that the simplicity of the MotoFONE is its
*best* feature, however. Especially for those of us who only use a mobile phone to make and receive calls!
* After the lecturette ended, we had a chance to play with the phones, and I must say I was impressed with the display, which was very easy to read. I tried trading my RAZR in for the MotoFONE, but I think they thought I was joking.
* Women in S. Africa loved the thin form factor of their phones, because they could discreetly place the phone in their bras (and not be at risk for theft). Marketers at Motorola wondered if they should advertise this feature!
* The simple cylindrical product packaging was designed to be kept and reused for household purposes– It keeps the brand alive well after the initial purchase. Women in India loved the packaging because it was the perfect size for their bangle bracelets.
* Motorola considered using brand ambassadors (i.e. Bollywood voices) to speak the voice prompts on the phones. The stars thought it was weird to have their voice on the phones, so the idea was placed on the back burner.
I will see if I am allowed to update the video to YouTube, but I’m willing to bet that will be a no-no.
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