The connected user and the dawn of a wearable world

Portable tech is no longer a luxury but an extension of ourselves

I find myself reflecting more and more on how we’re changing our focus from connected devices, to being more about connected consumers, particularly through wearable devices. As we detach ourselves from specific brands and their devices, we enter a brave new world where the driving force is the consumer’s needs, and the differentiator is the customer experience, without the clutter of technical novelty or noise from business needs driving behaviour.

We’re beyond the realm of the gadget geek — in 2015, digital enablement is pervasive in all aspects of daily life. The previous stigma attached to early adopters has been replaced with a wonder and expectation that technology is there to make our lives easier, not merely entertain with trivial, and ultimately disposable functionality. When brands get it wrong and put technology at the heart of the product — for example, Google Glass — the experience is jarring and consumers shy away from the risk of embarrassment or the fear of looking ridiculous.

The consumer should be at the heart of the product

In my last post I talked about the idea that the connected car as a concept was really outmoded now, and less useful than it had been 3–4 years ago. That prompted me to think about the wider picture, and if the device wasn’t so important then what should our focus be? The obvious conclusion was that the main constant in all of this is the consumer. Because for all we are reliant on tech, we are still people with human and emotional needs, and this needs to be reflected in the products we use.

Recently we hosted, with General Assembly, an event on “digital comes to life” which was packed out with people hungry to be part of this changing landscape. We know that more and more brands are seeing the opportunity to use digital to make deeper connections with their customer base, but more interestingly the curiosity of us as users is reaching unparalleled levels. Rather than wait to be told what the next big thing is, we are not only demanding to explore these horizons ourselves, but actively deciding and creating the future through crowd funding platforms such as kickstarter and indiegogo.

Personalised functionality

As this shift in power takes place, it’s also interesting to watch how this takes the control out of the hands of trusted big name providers. With the advent of app stores and independent providers, we are more and more comfortable with the idea of building our own toolkit of applications that suit our daily habits. Where before, the drive was for monopolised services and for “ownership of space” — increasingly we’re seeing people becoming more comfortable about making choices based on functionality rather than brand name.

This approach isn’t limited to the smartphone arena either. As the Internet of Things becomes relevant to more of us, there is increasing connectivity of disparate devices. So it follows that the brands themselves struggle to stay relevant. In the past there was a huge imbalance in marketing spend versus product improvement — this new wave brings about a much needed redressing of the balance, and I’m excited by the renewed focus on simply making your product better, without relying on reputation or pure brand awareness. According to Gartner, customer experience is the top innovation project for 2015. In fact, it’s becoming increasingly desirable to be a bit of an individual pioneer, and discovering the next big thing on your favourite crowdfunded platform, before it blows up in the mainstream.

There’s a real power struggle happening at the moment with smartphones — and it’s not necessarily to the benefit of the user. With Apple dominating the smart phone market, not just here in the west but also in the huge market of the far east, the battle for control of platform rages fiercely on — even Blackberry is striving to remain a consideration with their new Leap model. It reminds me of the browser wars of 15 years ago where the big names fought tooth and nail to maintain market share through exclusivity and jealous guarding of functionality but I strongly believe the way forward lies in true device agnosticism.

Since 1997, we’ve accepted the idea that customer experience drives great products, and not technology. As we focus on the user and their behaviour, we naturally develop a model where the person at the heart of this connectivity is far more interesting than the channel or platform that they happen to be using at any single point in time.

An age of hardware innovation

Apps paired with physical devices are certainly at the heart of new development. One of my favourite new wearables at the moment is the Lumo Lift which corrects your posture at its most basic functionality, but through the use of a smartphone app, allows additional functionality to be unlocked.

Smartwatches are another bandwagon of choice in 2015, and the new LG offering is particularly attractive — it supports all android phones, not just a proprietary platform from the manufacturer. We’re also seeing the advent of the watch that can unlock your home or start your car and as confirmed in Apple’s announcement today. This in itself is a great illustration of how manufacturers are attempting to simplify our lives through technology that solves a specific problem. Up to know, we have seen far too many wearables that seem more form over function — and a deep neglect for relevant, useful features.

Smart doesn’t mean ‘same’

We’re seeing plenty of smartwatches which offer functionality similar to that found on smartphones, such as money management, and transactional control. Research shows that actually people are more interested in fitness and health functionality, along with travel convenience through electronic tickets. People are happy to use NFC based payment functionality in a watch, but it’s a secondary concern — not a reason to invest in these products.

One side conversation we’ve had at Brilliant Basics is around the natural tendency of manufacturers to put the NFC chip in the face of the watch. This disrupts the pattern of natural behaviour, meaning you have to contort your wrist to align chip to reader — and risk scratching your lovely, expensive but oversized smartwatch. Why not embed the chip near the fastening and support a much more natural behaviour in presenting it to a device, palm down?

For the curious amongst you, the reason for this design is due to a desire to prevent cloning and restrict access to the NFC chip. Embedding it in a tamper proof glass case is an easy option but sadly the range is not good enough for it to function through your wrist. It’s unfortunately a prime example of where technology is driving the design, and trying to influence user behaviour. Ultimately I believe it’s doomed to fail (or be replaced with something more natural to use).

In the world of non-traditional connected devices, I’m intrigued by Ford’s new MoDe electric bicycles which have some truly original features, like sensors which detect cars approaching too fast from behind, and navigational information not just around routes, but around environmental factors such as availability of bike lanes and lighting along the route. This is a great example of where we’ve taken a device which has been proven over time to suit human behaviour and then enhanced, rather than tried to change, how we interact with the world.

Another increasingly popular wearable product example is that of headphones –again rather than adding a new device to your toolkit, this enhances one you’re already happy to use. Last year we saw the FreeWavz which monitor heart rate and fitness, but how about the groundbreaking wireless in-ear buds announced by NXP at the Mobile World Conference. They rely on Near Field Magnetic Induction to create a network for data transmission around the human body, thus doing away with wires completely.

Think approach, not device

The most exciting prospect for me at the moment however is not so much a single product but an approach to product design. Project Ara — officially not a Google product — promises a modular approach to smartphone development and breaks us out of the mould created by Steve Jobs and Apple. Until now, beautifully designed customer experience, through exceptional product interface and build execution has reigned for the last 10 years, but its always been from the position that the brand knows best. Project Ara aspirationally targets the same level of innovation happening in software, but in swappable hardware modules, potentially even lowering the cost of entry to bring smartphones to an additional 5 billion users — a massive untapped potential to use technology to really enhance the lives of people previously excluded from engaging.

Despite the levelling of the playing field, bringing technology out of the Valley and the Roundabout and truly into the hands of the world at large, I firmly believe that the real revolution is not about technology, it’s about user experience.

I don’t need Apple or Google to tell me what my digital experience should be — though I appreciate good design and intuitive interfaces as much as the next person. Apple’s position is frustrating — in particular, the juxtaposition of a beautifully designed piece of hardware and the native interface, with the dross and poorly designed nonsense permitted into the Apple Store. When you see the promise — particularly that of the thoughtful and polished experience in the recent “Spring Forward” announcement, it’s hard not to fall in love with the amazing user experience on offer. However if you look at the apps you use on a daily basis on your smartphone, how many are made by the manufacturer themselves and how many come from third parties? There is part of me that questions the control Apple have when many applications are not within an acceptable tolerance of their own quality control. Ultimately your experience is a result of the products you use so either enforce the same standards or open it up and allow the public to self-moderate, and vote with their feet — or finger, or other gesture if you will.

As the user gains more power and the brands put more emphasis on customer experience, it will become increasingly important to understand not only your audience segmentation and the big trends in usage, but also the tailored individual needs of the single consumer. We don’t naturally fit into convenient user personas, and so a subtle non-intrusive profile which guides content for my consumption, or prioritises functionality based on my changing requirements becomes an ever more relevant part of design. It’s a hard line to tread — between feeling like you’re being stalked online, or channelled into a category which doesn’t match how you feel right at that moment. It’s very easy to get wrong. Data and analytics are certainly a critical part of the road ahead, but it’s important not to forget that heavy handed personalisation is worse than no personalisation at all.

The shift towards investment in user experience rather than marketing

I joined my current company — Brilliant Basics — because I believe strongly in the principle of customer first design. Our earnest intention is to deliver products that make life simpler for the user first and foremost. The best way to do that is to actually understand them. From that basis you can form a model, and ultimately create a map of usage and consumption. Our solution is to build Experience Platforms, through which you develop the products designed to solve actual human needs, in a way that feels natural and intuitive. Build great products and they can market themselves.

It’s clear I’m not alone in this thinking. Eighty-nine percent of companies plan to compete primarily on the basis of the customer experience by 2016. It’s a given that technology will continue to advance, and we will repeatedly be delighted by, get bored with and at times faintly embarrassed by gadgets. However, when a product successfully answers the needs of the user, by aligning to behavioural needs, then that product is destined for success, and as much longevity as can be had, in a market where a teenage genius in his back bedroom has the power to redefine an industry.

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