Rashmi Guptey
1st February 2022
Harish Talreja
25th January 2022
Sid Talwar
31st December 2021
Ankit Moorjani
30th June 2021
20th January 2024
Sandeep Murthy
17th March 2022
1st January 2020
20th November 2017
7th June 2022
15th May 2022
17th February 2022
28th November 2023
Prashant Mehta
2nd February 2022
22nd September 2021
30th August 2021
15th March 2022
21st January 2022
14th January 2022
5th November 2024
Monish Pathare
28th October 2024
4th October 2024
5th August 2024
20th October 2021
25th April 2021
Akshat Jain
12th February 2021
31st May 2020
Tanya Rohatgi
19th August 2024
20th June 2024
Siddhant Ahuja
25th April 2022
14th February 2022
2nd June 2018
5th June 2024
15th February 2024
9th February 2024
26th May 2022
1st February 2024
20th November 2020
Shivani Daiya
20th February 2020
17th August 2014
17th October 2024
18th July 2019
17th September 2021
15th September 2021
Maansi Vohra
28th January 2021
Atharva Purandare
10th January 2021
Tanvi Ghate
23rd January 2024
Ahan Rajgor
12th May 2022
8th March 2022
22nd February 2022
22nd August 2024
29th July 2024
5th June 2022
5th May 2022
16th April 2021
15th November 2014
25th October 2021
8th March 2020
7th August 2018
27th December 2016
17th February 2021
29th September 2020
24th September 2020
26th July 2020
20th January 2020
15th October 2018
26th June 2018
13th June 2017
21st May 2024
13th February 2024
15th July 2024
10th April 2024
20th February 2024
15th November 2024
Good design deepens the connect between and brand and its user and that makes it good business.
I was asked to write about the role of design in mobile technology and how smartphones are changing the way we transact with companies and interact with each other. All I came up with were the usual clichés around user experience, co-creation and multi-way communication. Instead, I spent a few hours scouring AppAnnie to see what people are actually paying for on their mobile phones, to understand how we’re using technology every day and where good design can leverage big opportunities.
Technology allows people to connect. Good design deepens that connect and makes it emotional, even seductive. At the risk of oversimplification, that’s about it. Facebook does it. Whatsapp does it. Apple does it. Google does it. All have fairly divergent design philosophies but each works equally effectively in driving new behaviour.
Mobile usage in India is exploding and social media usage is staggering. A study published by Wearesocial states that Facebook alone added 16 million new users from January to June 2014 – that’s roughly one new user every second. The most popular free apps are messengers and games – That’s what we’re mostly doing on our phones. In Japan and China, messenger apps such as Line and WeChat have become mobile commerce portals. In India, that’s probably the next rev for apps like Hike and Viber.
But what do people actually pay for?
Like everywhere in the world, Indians buy extra lives on Candy Crush more than anything else. No surprises there, but a great example of how to create a social phenomenon on mobile. Building social aspects into the product design (rather than adding sharing features later) makes an authentic community-driven experience. Add fun, no language barriers, addictiveness and competition to the mix and you get a formula that gets the value conscious Indian to pay to play.
The data points very clearly to the economic potential and value of strong microcommunities. The highest grossing (based on in-app purchases) social networking app on iOS is LinkedIn. In contrast, the three highest grossing apps on Android are Ok Cupid Dating, Tagged and Say Hi – all apps for “love, flirting and dating”. While it may seem as though Android users have all the fun, it’s more likely that less affluent users from less cosmopolitan backgrounds are using social media to meet new people, something they are prohibited from doing in real life. Technology is disrupting outdated social and cultural behaviour.
A mega-trend towards social, discovery and personalization is clearly evident in news, songs and video apps. At $3.99, the Pocket Casts app – a podcast manager – is at the top of the news leaderboard. The community curated news app Reddit ($3) – where registered members submit content and vote submissions up or down – is equally popular. What does this say about the role of design in technology? These companies are putting users at the centre of their design innovation and asking how their products create the right conversation between them and the communities around them.
The brilliant Yves Behar, who has created some of technology’s most striking product designs over the last two decades, including the One Laptop per Child computer, the Jawbone wireless headset, the Up fitness band, and the Ouya game player, says that good design accelerates the adoption of new ideas. In the absence of tutorials and instructions, and in a country with massive language and literacy disparities, it is crucial to user acquisition as well as monetisation, and ensuring that these technologies become viable businesses. Where the “buy lives” button is placed and when it appears during a game makes a huge difference. Similarly, the purchase flow makes a big difference to drop off. Real estate in mobile is a lot more precious, making design that much more critical.
Like many good stories, it all started over a beer after a game of Rugby.
Using technology to create a new economic model, Greendust’s ambitious founder talks about creating a “parallel universe” where the young and aspirational can sell old products and buy heavily discounted factory seconds.
You will receive the next newsletter in your inbox.
The monthly Gazette is your source of happenings within Lightbox - updates, blogs, deep dives, opinion pieces and all things consumer tech
Join the thousands who hear from us