Mashable has a great roundup of 27 best avatar builders.
As a big fan of avatars and a team member of the Klonies here at Comverse I was very happy to see the topic has been getting traction and coverage!
Hopefully in the next roundup we will see Klonies mentioned there as well... :)
Dear friends,
As a fan of David Pogue of the NY Times, I was very proud to see his review of the Klonies mobile Caller ID:
"You know how young people are spending $10 billion a year on ringtones, just because it lets them express themselves? The next big thing, I'm convinced, will be avatars. This feature, too, was on display: You design your own little character, or avatar, choosing a hairstyle, clothes, facial features and so on. Then, whenever you call people, your character appears on their cellphone screens. I'll bet avatars will be the next huge teen fad in 2010 or so."
[via NYT]
Let me provide some background info for those of you who are not familiar with Klonies; Klonies is a new service of personalized avatars by the mobile solutions provider Comverse, that enables the creation of avatars from a big content library of body types, eyes, hairstyles, hats, glasses, moods, clothes, branded accessories, etc., which can be used in traditional web forums, as well as to extend this experience to the mobile arena. Comverse has created a mobile Caller ID service, by which a user can create his Klonie either on the Web or on his mobile handset. Klonies let youth segment do something they could never even dream of doing before: create expressive avatars that represent them on other people’s phones. Klonies give the users extended means for self expression: they define how they are seen by their friends, on their phones.
Doing some spring cleaning at my files I've run into this cool video we made a while ago in order to present the Klonies concept.
Let me provide some background info for those of you who are not familiar with Klonies; Klonies is a new service of personalized avatars by the mobile solutions provider Comverse, that enables the creation of avatars from a big content library of body types, eyes, hairstyles, hats, glasses, moods, clothes, branded accessories, etc., which can be used in traditional web forums, as well as to extend this experience to the mobile arena. Comverse has created a mobile Caller ID service, by which a user can create his Klonie either on the Web or on his mobile handset. Klonies let youth segment do something they could never even dream of doing before: create expressive avatars that represent them on other people’s phones. Klonies give the users extended means for self expression: they define how they are seen by their friends, on their phones.
What I liked in this video is that it literally presents the idea of 'inventing oneself' that usually is happens online, when the information about one's identity is very limited. Enjoy! :)
I was reading some very interesting bloggers' opinions about the Klonies service at Skype by Jean Mercier and by Phil Wolff and wanted to answer both. As my comment was becoming longer and longer, I decided to post it here and offer a bonus - Klonies pics!
Before actually addressing the points raised by both Jean and Phil, let me provide some background info for those of you who are not familiar with Klonies; Klonies are a new service of personalized Avatars by the mobile solutions provider Comverse, that enables the creation of Avatars from a big content library of body types, eyes, hairstyles, hats, glasses, moods, clothes, branded accessories, etc., which can be used in traditional web forums, as well as to extend this experience to the mobile arena. Comverse has created a mobile Caller ID service, by which a user can create his Klonie either on the Web or on his mobile handset. Klonies let youth segment do something they could never even dream of doing before: create expressive avatars that represent them on other people’s phones. Klonies give the users extended means for self expression: they define how they are seen by their friends, on their phones.
Both Jean and Phil talk about the workplace and the adult Skype users segment; both raise a certain feeling of discomfort with the young looks of the Klonies; this feeling is associated to the older users (of Skype and in general).
As a member of the Klonies team at Comverse, let me share some insights: at a trial we had at a European TIER 1 mobile operator a few months ago, we received very enthusiastic responses from young adults (19-24) and adults (25 and up) participating the trial. Both young adults and adults participants replied that they find the Klonies content to be appealing and fun to use and that they would be willing to pay for this mobile service.
As for the Klonies looks, yes, Klonies are good looking and juvenile, as they are primarily targeted to the youth mobile market. Klonies are good looking as they are our alter ego, our “wanna be web\mobile persona”. Klonies are also means for playing with our identity. Over the web we can “try” different characteristics as if they were different outfits (or costumes), we can express hidden parts of our personality that we don’t expose in daily life, such as our desires.
As for "rugged", "mature", "experienced", "damaged", “fat” avatars, the question is who would want to have his exact body shape and look to be his\her web representation? Imagine yourself this situation: I’m a very cool teenager but my face is all covered with pimples. Would I want my avatar to be polka dotted as well? -of course not! Would I want to have a button that adds zits to my avatar’s face? -no!! Nobody thinks zits are a good way to promote yourself. We all prefer to show an improved image of ourselves. If an “add a zit" option exists in the avatars building studio, and I’d deny its existence because I want my avatar to look cool and hip (who wouldn’t?!), my friends would say I’m lying about the way I look. The bottom line is that no button that adds flaws is welcome in avatars world. Better not have this possibility\option.
And last note about the Klonies looks - we are working on different skeletons to address different market tastes:
Also, different cultures have different conventions of how to present our body and how to pose:
Thanks Jean or sharing your thoughs and Thanks Phil for raising great ideas (I tried to reply to all of them at the comments section).
Hi everyone,
As I was getting some emails asking about the Klonies and how things are going with them, I decided to dedicate a few of my posts to this ever so interesting phenomenon, and to the ‘making of Klonies’ in particular. I began with the content, how do we know what people would like etc’ and followed with an illustrated description of the process of the design and draw.
If some of you have missed the previous posts, here’s a quick reminder about what Klonies is: Klonies are a new service of personalized Avatars by the mobile solutions provider Comverse, that enables the creation of Avatars from a big content library of body types, eyes, hairstyles, hats, glasses, moods, clothes, branded accessories, etc., which can be used in traditional Web forums, as well as to extend this experience to the mobile arena. Comverse has created a mobile Caller ID service, by which a user can create his Klonie either on the Web or on his mobile handset. Klonies let youth segment do something they could never even dream of doing before: create expressive avatars that represent them on other people’s phones. Klonies give the users extended means for self expression: they define how they are seen by their friends, on their phones.
Today, I wanted to share some good news: Klonies has a new type of content - the ‘predefined pictures’. Showing around the Klonies at many sales meetings and conferences brought up a lot of reactions; many people love the process of selecting body, hairstyle, clothes, backgrounds etc’ while others want to keep pictures we made for the demonstration as they are (“can I keep it?”). This made us think… Some people want to have the full experience of selecting and making while others just want a ready to use picture and would love to adopt something predefined, so why don’t we offer both kinds???
And thinking about it a little longer brought the following idea: if users select from a predefined library of pics, why should we limit them only to our Klonie, Klone or Klonster? We can offer a vast variety of other cool picture as well.
With this thought in mind, our designers hit the designing board and started to draw some sketches. After a few shots, this 3 types of content are the first to be brought to you:
Psycho Pets
Urban junkies
A selections of babes
Check it out Klonies at Skype. After selecting a body, press the red tab called ‘Picture’ to see the entire library of content. Let me know what you think of it!
Last week, Ronen Ventura and Tali Perel shared some insights about research, styling and analyzing usage as preliminary stages of creating the Klonies content. Today, continuing with 'The Making of Klonies', I want to review the process of (actually) making Klonies content - the design and draw.
Deciding on a subject, theme or style (events, seasons, local culture, age group), was the first stage described in the previous post. Then, the Design and Graphics Team, which includes Ronen Ventura, Oryan Ventura and Al Toiber, take the lead. First, the team gets together for some brainstorming. After throwing ideas to the air and discussing them, each one takes a few items and hits the designing board.
To better explain the process, I’ll demonstrate using some Klonster sketches made by Al.
A. Theme - Klonies special for Halloween.
B. Item - an outfit (entire body and not only a shirt or only bottoms) of a Dracula costume.
C. Al begins with a Klonster skeleton that looks like this (see figure 1a):
[Figure 1a]
D. First, Al makes a preliminary sketch for approval of concept (see figure 1b):
[Figure 1b]
D.1. After getting an approval, the next step is drawing a preliminary design (see figure 2a):
[Figure 2a]
D.2. The preliminary design receives more detailed comments (see figure 2b]
[figure 2b]
E. Last step is the implementation of the given comments, some corrections and final touches (see figure 3):
[Figure 3]
And here's the Klonster, all dressed up and ready to go (see figure 4):
[Figure 4]
And that's how a Klonies outfit is being made! Next time you'll browse the Klonies collection at Skype you will be able to evaluate the process that lies behind each item! :)
Hi everyone,
Today I wanted to share with you a new and sexy service that according to one of the Product Managers at Comverse will be the natural evolution of the ringback tones. To do things right, I'll begin at the top :)
Once, there was no choice but to hear a dull ‘ring ring’ when you waited for your friend to answer the phone. Now, follow this carefully: Tomorrow, you place a video call to your friend. Suddenly the amazing top hit by the new hip-hop group The Beatz will fill your mobile screen. You are enjoying a great top 10 video clip until your friend answers the phone. Wouldn't that be a better way to wait?
The Multimedia ringback tone takes the very popular musical ringback tone service to a whole different dimension, from the audio space to the visual video clip arena. It allows you to enjoy watching a video clip while placing calls, as well as to entertain your callers with video clips to watch while calling you.
Sounds great? I haven't said the final word yet, which is content. There are 3 types of optional content:
We all know that personalization is a key growth engine to mobile services and applications and it will probably keep being a key factor in the future. Having said that, the multimedia ringback tone leverages the ringback tones' success and promotes the video arena\ tusage of 3G. It harnesses the human need to self express and provides a new and creative outlet for that. Smart!
What are your reactions?
Lately, I keep getting readers emails saying that I haven’t written about the Klonies for a while now… So I decided to give you a peak of the Klonies backstage. I’ll start with the Klonies content and continue with the making of in my next post.
We all know that when it comes to mobile, content is the king. You can have a cool sharing app or community but if you don’t have attractive or compelling enough content - you’re doomed.
Just a quick note - Klonies, for those who don’t know, are a new service of personalized Avatars by the mobile solutions provider Comverse, that enables the creation of Avatars from a big content library of body types, eyes, hairstyles, hats, glasses, moods, clothes, branded accessories, etc., which can be used in traditional Web forums, as well as to extend this experience to the mobile arena. Comverse has created a mobile Caller ID service, by which a user can create his Klonie either on the Web or on his mobile handset. Klonies let youth segment do something they could never even dream of doing before: create expressive avatars that represent them on other people’s phones. Klonies give the users extended means for self expression: they define how they are seen by their friends, on their phones.
To be able to cover the Klonies content I met Ronen Ventura, the Klonies Chief Graphic Designer and Tali Perel, the Klonies Styling Adviser. Here’s what they told me:
Usually we start with a meeting of the designers, Styling Adviser and Marketing for a brain storming, to raise upcoming events (Valentines, Halloween, spring break etc’), topics, characters and that sort of leads. For example, when we launched the Klonies on Skype last year, we offered a wide collection of Football Mania clothing as it was only a few days before the world cup.
Other lead is analyzing users downloads; we can share with you that we were amazed to find out that men and women are very different in their preferences:
Most women want to be either bad or cool:
We see a lot of laid-back men:
As for dressing up:
Also, sport is the strongest theme amongst males, which nonexistent with the ladies. So, by analyzing downloads we get to learn a lot about tastes and trends. Also this is a great pointer of which areas to need to be broadened.
Apart form events, locals fashion also inspires the Klonies content. Our styling adviser explores fashion and teen magazines to get the sense and taste of specific audiences. Klonies sales people usually buy local magazines as part of their tasks when flying on business trips.
And you'll have to tune in later on for the second part of 'The Making of Klonies' :)
Hi all,
I wanted to let you know that my dear friends, Nick Wright, Savka Andic and Jan Kuczynski from mobileYouth (part of the Wireless World Forum) have a new blog called The Friday Feed.
At 3GSM, the World Forum Research team recorded a series of podcast interviews with a wide mix of attendees. One of them was my colleague, Tal Dagan, which was interviewed about the Klonies.
If you're interested, you can listen to Tal's podcast here. Also there are a lot of other interesitng podcast so head over and pay a visit at The Friday Feed.
Enjoy!
Hi everyone,
Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season, and best wishes for a wonderful New Year!
And a personal note - Happy Birthday Dad! :)
Happy new (Hebrew) year everyone!
To see this sweet animated greeting you can use this link: http://192.118.48.66
:)
Xen
Hi everyone,
I wanted to share the latest news... Starting yesterday, I'm joining the Comverse Fun Dial business unit. You probably know our service under its common name of ringback tones.
For all Klonies fans among you - don't worry! This doesn't mean I'm leaving the Avatars Group. As a positive outcome of the company's latest reorganization, The Avatars Group and the Fun Dial now belong to the Content line of business, so I will be working for both at the Marketing Department.
Naturally, in the near future I will be mostly learning, however it would be great if you have interesting ideas\ findings\thoughts to share about the mobile music industry which I'm joining. Your welcome to email me or comment.
Just wanted to let you know that your beloved Klonies avatars are now FREE on Skype. Yes - free! Go ahead, express yourself and if you want to be featured here, under the "Klonie if the week" spot, send it over by email.
Enjoy!
"Klonies Blogging Idol" is still running and kicking... who's gonna win this close competition? Before the final results, let's welcome the last contestant, Nissim Bar-Siman-Tov, a.k.a. D.J. B., who's a dear friend and a gifted software developer. Well, enough said... Nissim, the stage is yours!
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Recently, ABC announced its free broadcast of new episodes of rating-dominating TV series like Lost, Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal and Alias over the web. This announcement followed a former one which stated that “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” will be provided for Verizon’s mobile devices supporting Web 2.0 for $2.99 for each episode added to the $5 Mobile Web 2.0 monthly access costs, just to watch Eva Longria on the go.
In the 3G world, most of the business models depend on broadband-supported content to gain back the billion $$ invested in 3G networks. However, I don’t think they expected their business models to fail so quickly. Most of the content offered by mobile providers can be obtained freely from the web or through other media networks, and can be downloaded to mobile devices very easily. Any user who has a broadband can access any multimedia content and either store it on his/her PC, view photos, listen to ripped CDs, watch pre downloaded movies, pre recorded by PVR or even watch live TV according to cable/satellite subscriptions. All that thanks to the “Media Shifting” technology, which has reached its matureness. With this brilliant technology, why would mobile users pay twice for multimedia content they can download from their Computer/TV at home?? All they really need is an unlimited internet package for their mobile device!
Yahoo! declared its intention to be a major player in this huge promising market with its recent acquisition of “Meedio” (Yahoo! Go!). This service provides content both to PC and to Mobile devices with the same interface. However, Yahoo! Was preceded by Orb networks which seized the business potential and offered an excellent service of “Media Shifting” for some time and allowed its users to have their multimedia on the go…
Realizing that these business models might not survive in the long term, mobile operators should seek other ways of expanding their services. One way is to make the most from call-related content, like ringback tones, forward tones and branded Avatars. Since the media shifting’s hype can jeopardize current mobile content business models and change the world again, better be ready than sorry.
Technorati Tags: Nissim Bar-Siman-Tov, mobile, mobile content, mobile operators, mobile TV, media shifting, Meedio, Yahoo! Go!, Orb networks
I'm very happy to share our excitement: the Klonies avatars are now available on Skype!!
With the Klonies, Skype’s users can create and personalize their Klonies to reflect their looks, moods and interests and share with friends, family, and community groups. Check it out and tell me what you think :)
Disclaimer: I work at Comverse, on the Klonies project.
Technorati Tags: announcement, avatars, klonies, skype, IM
I want to welcome a dear friend and a very well-known blogger - Stowe Boyd (a.k.a. Stowe Klowe) - who's wearing the new spring collection of the working model fashion house, a Klonies T-shirt!
Technorati Tags: stowe boyd, clothe stowe 2006, klonies, klonies t-shirt
Last week, a well-known web avatar service has released its news about raising a big amount of $$ for widening its activity on the IM market.
All people who got to know me don't understand why the hell am I writing about this, since I work at Comverse, on the Klonies project which is other avatar Mobile and web service... The thing goes like this: the fact that big companies/investors believe in the avatars market and are willing to invest in it - is very good news for the entire world of avatars!
GO avatars!
Technorati Tags: avatars, mobile avatars, avatars market, klonies
"Klonies Blogging Idol" is still running... Causing the participants to nervously bite their nails not knowing who’s winning since many friends want to get the chance to try the blogging thing. For those of you who haven't heard about it, I'm looking for blogging talents among the Avatars Group, to get them blogging in our upcoming Klonies Blog. So let me introduce you to my fourth guest, Tom Sella, a dear friend of the group, a Klonies addict, a regular reader (I didn’t pay him to do so I swear) and a great blogger. Well, enough talkin’... Tom, knock ‘em down!
*******
Several years ago I had a couple of paperback Asimov’s Journal (after looking it up, I think it is Asimov’s Science Fiction zine) editions, or something to that effect. These were collections of short science fiction stories by (I think) both known and lesser-known authors.
One story that I particularly liked was one which, among other things, described a message answering holographic video phone, where your (today more commonly known as “avatar”) attendant would answer, and filter messages. Both the complexity of the system, and unsolicited messages (today more commonly known as “SPAM”), were described, where one would try to fool the other to reveal its true identity – the avatar as message filtering service instead of the targeted “live person”, and the message as SPAM, instead of something of importance to the “live person”.
This would seem to be more science than fiction these days, in so many aspects. To forego the subject of SPAM and SPAM filters, we are now making daily progress in manifesting and/or changing our personal representation. We do this in our instant messengers, e-mail, blogs, and when Klonies and SeeStorm have it their way, on our mobile phone.
How long would it take to bring us, our personal computers, and mobile phones, technology just as recently described as being used in movies, where one can come into the studio, and with no makeup and no special effects, appear 25 years his younger, or in fact, anything else? To judge from technologies brought forth by Logitech [videos here and here], combined with avatar technologies like Klonies, possibly not long at all.
As one Israeli child song goes, with a little twist “whomever stands behind in front of me, does not know who I am”.
P.s. if anyone can remind me of the author of the story, and where it may be found, I would be grateful.
Technorati Tags: tom sella, sciense fiction, avatars, mobile avatars, asimov, seestorm, klonies, logitech,
Who would have believed that my little "Klonies Blogging Idol" would get so much participation! :) For those of you who haven't heard about it, I'm looking for blogging talents among the Avatars Group, to get them blogging in our upcoming Klonies Blog. So let me introduce you to my third guest, Assaf Katan, also known as the man behind the Klonies branded content. Well, enough said... Assaf, the stage is yours!
**********
Ringtones have long been Mobile Content's number 1 killer app - miles ahead of any other killer-app wannabes, niche applications or come & go hypes. While it could seem that ringtones have exhausted their potential and reached maximum usage, the demand - together with operators' and content owners' revenues - keeps growing at surprisingly high rates.
The ringtones themselves, in parallel to the handsets, have also evolved - from monophonic, to polyphonic, to better-sound-polyphonic, and now to realtones (also called true-tones and several other names), which are actual clips from the original sound tracks.
All this said, there one thing that I find lagging behind - what we can actually do with ringtones, or more so to what extent a user can "exploit" that piece of content he (or she) paid for. Let me explain: on any given phone at any given time, a user usually has one - and only one - active primary or default ringtone. This ringtone plays when most calls come in. If this is a slightly more sophisticated user, he may have 1-2 additional active ringtones assigned to specific important phone numbers. And that's it!
Think for a moment of a heavy user, that downloads a new ringtone every 2-3 weeks (and there are many such users). In essence, this users pays about $2 for a ringtone once or twice a month, and in most cases this "investment" is only "exploited" for 2-3 weeks, when he downloads the next ringtone. True, the old ones are still saved on his handset, but he can only use one at a time so it would usually be the latest and greatest one.
What's the alternative? Now this is where I openly and admittedly take advantage of this Blog (but only in a good way...) to introduce, and get feedback on a new application - a "ringtone manager". In a nutshell, this application lets users use several ringtones in parallel, according to their preferred mode, e.g.:
The critics (and there are always critics…) would argue that this is problematic - people recognize their phone by its ringtone and this way they might actually miss calls. While this is true to a certain extent, this application is targeted at heavy users of mobile in general and particularly ringtones and other forms of mobile content. For these users, I believe this will not only be a non-issue, it will actually be an additional fun factor.
And finally: in the spirit of the previous column, "Good Old Consumer Marketing", by the great Tal Dagan, I fully agree that as good as an application is, the "technology" (so to speak) is not enough. Therefore, I am proud to conclude by unveiling this new application's not-so-original yet highly-appropriate name: "Lord of the Rings"!
Technorati Tags: assaf katan, ringtones, ringtone manager,mobile content
Hi everyone,
Let me introduce you to my second guest at my little "Klonies Bloggind Idol" effort to look for blogging talents in our group and get them blogging. Welcome Avner Ronen, the man who brought the Klonies to the world and he's also known as our "spiritual father" at the Avatars Group. Well, now let the genius man speak for himself :)
**********
the wsj had a story yesterday (subscription needed, sorry) of a preemptive move by Cingular and Verizon Wireless to prevent the FCC from starting to regulate mobile content. so in order to stop the regulator from getting involved, they came up with their own set of rules, which seem much more restrictive than what is applied to network television and broadcast radio.
Both carriers have draft policies that go into what types of content is decent enough to be accessible to their subscribers. they also list words/phrases that can not be used in ringtones. for example, according to Cingular’s new policy a ringtone can not include the following words (partial list…):
Ass - Balls - BJ - Breasts
Condom - Corn-hole - Fart - Fornicate
Fudge packing - Insemination - Laid - Lesbian
Masturbate - Naked - Nipples - Nutsack
Orgasm - Pee pee - Penis - Piss
Porn - Puberty - Ruby red bag - Scrotum
Semen - Sex - Shit - Sit on my face
Sixty-nine - Smegma - Teabagging - Testicles
Uncircumcised - Uterus
Verizon Wireless had an even more exhaustive list (with many terms i did not understand..)
it must have been interesting sitting in these meetings and debating whether to allow users to hear a ringtone that has words like “camel jockey” or “spank the monkey”. there must have been heated debates on the merits of each phrase.. now that’s the type of brainstorming i’d like to take part in. they probably brought in teenagers as experts on the subject matter, to make sure something like “poontang” does not escape their blacklist.
they go into further detail, defining what type of images may be displayed (”no nipple, no nipple covers, no nipple shadow…” - it seems they really investigated the nipple issue in this post wardrobe-malfunction world), what could be included in the name of the images (no “Bootylicious”), what names for ringtones (no “Grandma pregnant with uncle” ??), what type of video content (i thought the quote from the title of the post is great).
it seems like a very tough task, keeping up with all the indecencies around us. and how to cast a wide enough web to catch them all. Verizon Wireless tried to address the challenge by dividing the problematic content into categories such as “Lingerie - Female” and “Medium Short Rear Nude - Female”. For example, in the definition of “Medium Short Rear Nude - Female” it says that the image “can include a full rear view, but not with legs up or apart”.
i think this is INSANE and troubling. probably the best example you can get of why the carriers should not have such a level of control over the network. just to be clear, this is not talking about the content that the carrier publishes, but rather rules that will apply to ANY content provider that wants to offer content to the subscribers of the carrier.
it is also a good example why the most affective form of censorship is self-censorship fueled by fear (e.g. China..). the carriers are taking an ultra conservative approach, just to keep the FCC off their backs.
i think a much more reasonable approach would be to require content providers to notify subscribers accessing their site that it includes explicit content, so they can choose to go somewhere else. that’s it. without going into the details of defining what is decent and what is not, and censoring free speech in the process.
If you want to take a look at the guidlines - here they are: Download wireless_guidlines.pdf
Technorati Tags: avner ronen, cingular, verizon,mobile content, policy, self censorship
Hi everyone,
As you probably know, these days we’re working on our upcoming Klonies Blog. Part of this effort was to look for blogging talents in our group and get them blogging.
Let me introduce you to my first guest, which I hope you’ll get to read more at the Klonies’ Blog. Welcome to Tal Dagan, the General Manager of the Avatars Group. Well, enough talkin’, rock on Tal!
******
One of the recent success stories in the device market was Motorola's success with its sleek RAZR devices. Motorola guys were lately quoted saying that in some regions, close to 40% of their total sold devices last year were of this particular model. Now that's an amazingly high number for a company that produces over 50 models a year.
Indeed, everywhere you’ve seen a Motorola phone in the last year, most chances it was a RAZR device. I have seen this taken to the next level in 3GSM in Barcelona; after wandering around the conference, the RAZR effect was evidently seen not only in the Motorola stand. Every single one of the large handset vendors showed at least 1-2 devices which were very nice replicas of the sleek RAZR design. No shame in the industry...
This is all very nice, but what's so special about it? Just a successful handset model?
But there's much more to it.
Although at the beginning of the RAZR, over two plus years ago, it started as just another cool device, its incredible success actually caused Motorola to shift its strategic marketing focus. No more focus on winning the technology/spec battle but rather having "just as good features", and puting the entire weight on design design and design; giving the users a new and exciting form factor, a unique design which is targeted at precise segments of the market. We all know that the handsets have become a user's "statement about themselves" a tool to express one's self... let’s give the user just that.
This may sound trivial, but remember that these industry players have been focusing, and throwing away, billions of $$$ on a technological battle, fighting vigorously on who will be the first to come out with 5,6,7,8...mega pixels cameras, first with double, triple or quadruple packet bandwidth, XHTML and not HTML and so on.
Not only that, but notice another small but significant shift...think about the 'device name': no longer Motorola A900, A1000, V980 or E550 but...RAZR! This makes so much sense. Why should a user remember, or care, if his phone is N-90, or P990 or E750??? I bet 99% of users do not remember the device’s name one month after they bought it. However, go check this with RAZR owners...The opposite will be true. Now that's creating brand attachment.
Following the worldwide RAZR success, Motorola has gone out with its PEBL, ROKR and SLVR models. All follow the same path of the RAZR - a new exciting form factor, no focus on technical firsts, and a cool self expressive name (guess what the PEBL looks like...).
This, in my mind, is good old marketing genius.
Technorati Tags: tal dagan, motorola, razr, mobile device, consumer marketing
I just got a call inviting me to the college of alternative medicine to participate in 3 sessions as a guinea pig. That means I'm going to get the best massage ever for FREE and at the best time ever - at the end of Thursday, just before the weekend starts! And three times! It sounds soooooooo relaxing, ha?
To match the spiritual environment, I’m putting a yogi Klonie. Ommmmmmmmmmmmmm :)
What do you think of this new Klonie looking like the Matrix? I saw it and was so impressed! Thank you Ventura (both of you, believe it or not, we have 2 graphic designers called Ventura) and Gila for arranging it to be published here in my "Klonie of the Week" album.
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