How To Build "Just Right" Mobile Handsets Using Convenience Analysis

Balancing competing product design demands through a series of tradeoffs is a critical part of the process of building a mobile device like a phone. Why did smartphones not enjoy mainstream success in the late 1990s and early 2000s, given their numerous features? The tradeoff decisions were wrong: The features did not deliver sufficient real benefits, and the corresponding barriers were overwhelming. Why is it still so hard to design a great mobile handset? Because knowing which tradeoffs to make on a new, innovative phone design is still more of an art than a science. Based on Forrester's decade of surveying millions of consumers across multiple geographies, Forrester has concluded that the solution to both questions is the comprehensive concept of convenience. Firms that utilize the Convenience Quotient will be able to increase their mobile product's benefits while reducing the barriers to success.