Harvard Business Publishing

Device divergence instead of device convergence, and interesting idea...

Good point about the business model: following the same device cost + monthly fee leads people toward directly comparing it against mobile phones, Wifi laptop access and other comparable "remote data access plan". But the greater opportunity is to think of access to mobile data as something completely different, perhaps a a true "peek" into what is out there?

Perhaps a better business model is to scrap (or reduce even further) the monthly fee and just make it pay-per-use, with a very cheap device price to get it into people's hands.

I understand that one of the lessons from mobile data is that it is difficult for people to understand the prices of KB and data delivered over the network, but what if the price was simply per-email? Or per-email read? Provide a "peek at the in-box to see what is there, then pay extra to actually read the messages?

Perhaps the greatest lesson from the low adoption of mobile email is that people use email differently while mobile, and thus the entire model (device + service + pricing) needs to be different to fit the use.

Price the service using terms that easily convert to the way people use it.

Three examples come to mind:

1. Blackberry's first model(s). No phone, only e-mail. At some point they realized that if you are carrying this device with you, you might as well be getting your phone calls on it. The first voice-enabled blackberries didn't work that well. Current ones do. People will not carry two devices.

2. Simplify to e-mail only with no attachment? This reminds me of the network computer. How about a simple device that can only connect to the Internet, and nothing else? Huge promise--great disappointment... Instead of paying $200 for a network-only device, you might as well pay $300 for a full PC (albeit entry level one) and get everything else.

3. At least they didn't follow the Metricom/Ricochet model, using a proprietary protocol and network, but rather used an existing network and protocol set.

Conclusion: not going to happen.

Yoram.

I'm not sure I understand the value that this product is offering to consumers. In fact, it seems like a step backward from the perspective of service offering. I can't think of a good reason why one would buy an email-only device, and then carry a separate device for phone, and another for music. I am a big fan of IDEO, and I am sure they brought design features to the product, but probably not to the service! I think this will not fly.

The device seems to follow Don Norman's "Information Appliances" approach, where instead of convergence that leads to unusuable products (Phone+email+digital camera+WAP), you have separate devices designed explicitly for the task at hand leading to greater usability.

I have no doubts that the Peek will work like a charm (and I like the design too!), but I agree with Scott Anthony that it needs a disruptive business model to succeed (like dropping the monthly rate). Otherwise the target group is too narrow - serial emailers are mostly technologically literate enough to use a Blackberry.

Poor strategy - the use of email will soon die out! How many 15-25 year olds use email? not many. Most use internet based services to communicate with friends / colleagues.

How important is email for consumers in their personal lives? not very.

What about work email? Well, we are are the cusp of a revolution in the workplace where email will soon become less and less important.
The mobile phone is becoming our central information hub, people want more information, but only when they need it, and they need the experience to be simple, not the capabilities.

This is a bit like introducing a new fax service in the late 90's, when email was about to take off.

The idea is GREAT and the business model steps into OLD THINKING.

I guess what is needed are the same kind of innovative ideas to generate business as IDEO has given the design of the device.

My ideas (a few out of many) would be:

1. arrange add-on service with national mobile phone service providers

2. Sell together with "normal" phones (as only about 10% are using e-mail)) that could be down-designed (also considering the price)

3. Give it away to early adopters for free (checking out the behavior and spreading-the-word)

4. Promote the use of it through celebrity promotion

5. Sell it with the proposition of saving valuable time (as the email handling as fairly easy and fast)

6. Free wireless use at T-Mobile hotspots through buying service (eg. in a café) that pays off the bill

......lot's of more ideas come to mind while writing.

Love to conduct a workshop on Skype to find more innovative ways to get to a win-win-situation that suits the customer and the company (and other stakeholders, as well).

What do you think?

Cheers,

Ralf

PS.: Just send me a private message-