[Via gotomobile] – I recently became aware of MEX 2007: The PMN Mobile User Experience Conference in London, May 2nd/3rd. I like the Manifesto format of the topics, very much starting with an opinion / point-of-view and fostering discussion on it, rather than take a back seat and being a neutral forum. I like the progressive stance of these topics, especially the quality of experience vs. commodization risks with time to market pressures we all face that ultimately affect experience design:
1. Understanding users and delivering exceptional customer service is just as important a part of the mobile experience as the latest technology and the size of the marketing budget. It can be the key differentiator for a business. We think too much time and money is invested in getting products to market quickly rather than getting products to market effectively.
Other manifesto points that struck a chord with me are around unlocking the value of contextual awareness and portable community/identity user experiences.
6. The world is gaining embedded intelligence. The mobile industry faces a fundamental user experience challenge to make handsets as effective as communicating with the environment as they are with other humans. We think the connection of millions of machines to wireless communication networks represents the most significant generational change since the introduction of packet data.
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8. Mobile devices are the natural choice for interacting with communities. Sharing experiences through your mobile device should be as simple as making a voice call. We think the success of user-generated content, social networking and community interaction through mobile devices will depend on enhancing rather than replicating the desktop experience.
They also have a MEX Blog that has some emerging discussion as more of the speakers and topics come together, including some provocative thoughts about user-centered mobile advertising (versus the outdated “inerruption” models used in old school media like broadcast television):
Most forms of advertising use some kind of contextual awareness to reach the customer in a more appropriate fashion. However, from the advertiser’s point of view, the perceived value of advertising actually increases as it becomes more effecive at distracting the user. In many ways, the ultimate goal of advertisers and their creative agencies is to capture the attention of a customer who is only vaguely interested in a product and convince them to buy it.
This principle drives advertising strategy across television, radio, billboards and, to some extent, desktop PCs.
We believe it will be ineffectual and potentially damaging in the mobile environment.
I couldn’t agree more! How this evolves can be blessing or curse to mobile UX designers, and defining appropriate rules for engagement with marketers who are used to an interruption-based paradigm will be essential. The old mass media models will fail if applied directly to mobile devices without adding value to the end experience.
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