Re: documentation going away

[Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

>From what I can see, the marketing strategy for Android phones is to target
consumers who like to explore the prepackaged apps (most of which have
their own user instructions) and select from the apps pushed at them in the
app "market," or reach for their phones whenever they see something
potentially interesting featured in the content of varous websites or other
tech forums.  And my experience trying to actually use my wife's Android
phone as a PHONE suggests to me that the majority of Android users don't
actually TALK on their phones, but use them for email, text messaging, web
browsing, playing video and music and taking and sending photos.

Gene Kim-Eng


On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 8:01 AM, Connie Giordano
<connie -at- therightwords -dot- com>wrote:

> Agreed, which doesn't make it any less short-sighted than any of the other
> tactics companies often take to make the quarterly sales goals.  If user
> experience really is the watchword for 2012, I suggest senior management is
> really a long way from understanding how it works and what it means to
> their product management strategy (including training sales people to
> explain the most basic features to someone who obviously is replacing older
> technology).
>
> I'd be curious to see what the customer satisfaction levels are for
> products that limit their support to a quick start guide and community
> forums.
>
> I have no interest in joining a community forum for my phone, it is not the
> center of my world, and I'd rather spend what little time I have for
> visiting forums on topics that are more important to me (to each his own I
> guess). I don't know how many other consumers feel this way, but I'm pretty
> certain I'm not the only one out there. And this goes for all sorts of
> products, not just phones. Companies putting the effort behind creating a
> good product experience understand this,do the audience analysis, and
> provide documentation in multiple ways.  They just seem to be few and far
> between.
>
> MTC
>
> Connie
>
> On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 10:26 AM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > I think the sales figures for whatever phone the manufacturer shipped
> last
> > year with the same level of documentation constitutes the main data.
> >
> > Gene Kim-Eng
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Connie Giordano" <
> > connie -at- therightwords -dot- com>
> >
> > It's kind of presumptious to say "most users don't want that" since it
> > totally depends on the product, the company's support strategy and the
> > experience level of the user.  Perhaps most companies think (or hope)
> most
> > users want that since it's probably a lot cheaper up front, but I haven't
> > found any kind of consumer research that says users are satisfied with
> such
> > an approach.  Can you provide some data to back up your statement?
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Connie P. Giordano
> Principal Consultant
> The Right Words of NC, LLC
>
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