I recently took the plunge and purchased an Apple iPhone. I’m not about to go into a long review of the merits of the handset, but I will say this. It’s not the first smart phone that I’ve owned, that honour goes to the Nokia N95. I found the N95 to be a very useful handset, I used to check email and browse the web on it whenever I was away from my computer. The user experience of the device wasn’t good enough to use it anymore than this, and whenever I had the option of using a fully fledged computer, this would be my preference.
The iPhone changes this. Now I find myself instinctively reaching for it to do numerous online tasks that are now quicker and easier to accomplish using this smartphone. The iPhone is no flash in the pan, it’s heralded a whole new era of user experience on the mobile phone, with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, Google’s Android and Nokia’s Symbian smart phone operating systems looking to catch up to the custom version of OSX found on the iPhone.
The interesting thing as far as this blog is concerned, is that as people make the transition that I have, and begin to prefer the user experience of a smart phone over a more traditional computer, what sort of possibilities this presents for media creation and interaction.
It has ramifications for the way that people interact with public spaces if their lives are going to become more dependent on these devices. It also means that entertainment that takes place within public spaces has to think about how smart mobile phones could be used to create a richer degree of interaction between the audience. It might be that a sophisticated approach to engaging smart phones translates into a sophisticated approach towards other new mediums.
I’ll keep watching this evolving space and update you when I can!
