Is simplicity the way to mass market for mobile?

I often get asked what are the requirements so that mobile and mobile internet will be a mass market. Up today I always that there a three main point:

• high connection speed (Done)
• big screens at least QVGA (240×320) (almost done)
• flatrate data tariffs (almost done)

This basically means that actually the basis is there yet mobile internet is taking really up especially in Germany.

So what could be a reason for this?

Today, I will add another aspect to the list that needs to be solved. I have watched an old presentation from David Pogue from the New York Times at the TED in 2006. It is now almost 3 years old but I think more relevant then ever.

The title of his presentation was Simplicity Sells and why it gets more important each year as more and more people take up technology that are not as experienced as we are.

At the moment mobile phones and mobile media is everything else than easy to use with maybe the exception of the iPhone. In his presentation he said that Palm had somebody that counted the steps needed to finish a task and each task was not allowed to have more than 3 steps. I think there are almost no tasks on the phone that can be finished in 3 steps. Most user interfaces are by now a couple of years old (S40 and S60 from Nokia almost 9 years) when your mobile phone was mainly used to write SMS and call, maybe take a snapshot.

If you want to take notes on your S60 device you need 7 step just to start the application. If you install an application on your Motorola device you find it most likely under games and don’t look for it on Samsung phones. The iPhone has the notes icon directly on the first screen, so just one tap. This list can be continued with every action you want to perform on your normal phone. Two years ago I told a colleague, how worked in mobile for the last 7 years, he should check out a special mobile page on his phone. The reaction was a blank star, because he did not know how to enter an address in his mobile phone.

Another aspect is the problem or issue with the network settings each phone needs today when it wants to connect to the internet. The normal user would not know how to find these settings and how to enter them. Some operators send you an SMS that you need new settings well that’s nice but not really helpful. O2 Germany is the exception as it sends you your settings when you add your SIM card into a new phone and they plan that you do not need any settings at all. This means that it can be easier, if the operator wants to.

I think we have to solve some of these usability issues before mobile internet reaches the masses as they won’t use it with these usability issues. Take the iPod as an example how a device with a high usability won against “normal” devices.