1) TreoCentral user PatrickS asks �What are your primary sources for determining the market needs that drive the feature set of a device?� More specifically, Techjunkie questions � �How much does TreoCentral�s Discussion Board realistically affect their decision-making on requirements /features?�
Haitani: We use a number of sources, but filter this data and generally only implement those features we think solve a real customer problem. First, does the feature request eliminate a frustration, or does it simply sound cool? To be honest, we tend to rely heavily on intuition here, but the things that tend to really annoy one person often are universal (as opposed to the things people think are cool, which are matters of opinion). It is frustrating when it takes numerous steps to perform frequently used tasks. It is frustrating when ambiguous UI design causes you to do the wrong thing. It is surprisingly easy to find these items. Focusing on market research, on the other hand, tends to push you towards implementing trendy features that may or may not actually make it easier to use our products. In other words, market research gives you a sense of what people want, but we try to search for what people need. When we get stuck in a design meeting, we fall back and ask the question, �what problem are we trying to solve?�
Regarding Treo Central specifically, we consider this a valuable source of feedback, but we do feel it tends reflects the leading edge of our customer base. Treo Central sometimes feels like another person in our design meetings�I constantly hear people say that �people on Treo Central say this or that� (as if everyone on Treo Central has the same opinion!). But we try to weigh it against what we feel is the voice of the novice customer. It is like trying to set a curriculum based on what the advanced students want.
2) Every other user had something related to this question: Why didn�t you include (Wifi, better Bluetooth support, more memory, _____) in the device? User bitingLobster sees this rapid expansion of features a negative aspect, commenting, �But recently, it seems PalmOne is adding feature after feature indiscriminately, with size, cost and battery life, suffering. Surely, we enthusiasts will ask for feature after feature, but the early Palms were successful because they were useful to more than us hardcore techies. I worry the resulting complexity will make the Palm OS as hard to use as the PocketPCs, and that PalmOne is trying to follow in the PocketPC footsteps while abandoning the Palm�s advantages. If you concentrate on playing the hardware game with Microsoft�s OEMS, I fear you will lose. Could you please please allay my fears?� After determining market needs, how do you allocate resources and decide what technologies to utilize and focus on?
Haitani: These conflicting questions cut to the heart of what good design is. You have to weigh the desires of more features and functionality vs. the real-life tradeoffs. The other issue that this conflict in questions illustrates is that one size cannot fit all, particularly with software. You can have a lineup of low-end and high-end products, but ultimately the buyers of the low-end product ask why we can�t add the features of the high-end product, and the owners of the high-end product are burdened with features they don�t need.
As for the question of allocating resources and deciding what technologies to focus on, we try to clarify what the goals are for each product. And this often differs depending on which generation of a project we are building. For example, when we built the Treo 600, this was a major leap forward from the Treo 300. So we focused on the core elements: form factor, keyboard usability, and 5-way navigation. We knew that simply checking off those three features was not enough: we had to excel in all three areas for the product to succeed. As a result, we made a conscious decision not to put in features such as a high-res screen, removable battery, Bluetooth, etc. We knew that trying to do too much would cause the usability and overall utility of the product to collapse under its own weight. But then when we developed the 650, we felt we had the core design locked down, so we could circle back and add some of these key features. Sometimes people think that adding those features was a tacit admission that we were wrong for not putting them in the 600. In reality this is a deliberate part of our general design approach.
The trick is making sure not to go too far. We have very passionate debates about our product every time we want to add something. The SD slot was a big one in the 600. We had models built and evaluated the impact on thickness�millimeters matter. It turned out that the SD slot was not the �longest pole� in the design, so that it was a very subtle difference when you held it in your hand. The high-res screen was also a matter of huge debate in the 600 as well. In that case we decided not to put it in. So there are battles over every item that goes in (or doesn�t).
3) Users g.711 and bmacfarland were two of many users commenting on product reliability. In fact, the TreoCentral forums have been a hotspot of criticism and comments on this issue. Could you provide some insight into what went wrong with the Treo 600, and how you learned from these experiences to improve the Treo 650?
Haitani: We're aware some quality-related issues about the Treo 600 have been discussed on TreoCentral, and we regret any problems customers experienced. The Treo 600 was obviously a significant redesign of the prior Treo products, so new issues arose we didn't see on the earlier products. In designing the Treo 650, we took these factors into account as we always look to improve the product. We also went to an even more leveraged model that utilized the expertise of an ODM, which resulted in the introduction of significant process and structural changes to further enhance the quality of the Treo 650 product and so far we're encouraged by the results, although we always strive to eliminate all issues.
4) Rome asks �What kind of new/different technologies and/or features can we expect to see in a smartphone in five years?�. BigT asks �How do you envision the Treo product line maturing given the fact that mobile phones are becoming more capable, (camera, text messaging, games & E-mail), and laptops becoming lighter/smaller and more capable, (wireless networks, VoIP, video entertainment)?�
Haitani: We believe that eventually all phones will be smartphones. As processors and memory become cheaper, and high-speed networks become ubiquitous, why wouldn�t you include these in every phone? It�s similar to the way that �multimedia� computers disappeared as a category once it became practical for all computers to have audio and video capabilities built in. The question is then what people will do with those products. A Treo 650 is already more powerful than the desktop computers we were using a few years back. In five years you should be able to do anything you can do on a desktop computer now, with two significant restrictions: screen size and data input. You will never be able to write a contract on a smartphone or build your sales forecast spreadsheet. That�s why laptops will never be displaced by smartphones. On the other hand, there will be entire categories of functions that will be easier and more convenient to do on a smartphone. Five years from now we will look back and find it mind boggling how tethered we are to our desktop machines today. We won�t believe that when we were going out to dinner we would walk to the den and print out directions. Or that when we wanted to rent a video on Netflix we had to go home and log in. Remember when you had to go find a phone booth to call someone? That�s how you will think about many Internet transactions in the future�it will be liberating to do them anytime, anywhere with your smartphones.
5) Rumors have been swirling around on the web about a Windows Mobile Powered Treo, as Olimpo noted in our question thread, while 100thMonkey is concerned about Symbian�s threat on the Treo. PalmSource is slowly rolling out Cobalt, while at the same time acquiring a Linux firm to create the next generation Palm OS. How important is the brand of operating system, as compared to the basic phone, email, and web functionality (which could feasibly be standard across many different systems)? Is the Treo platform operating system agnostic?
Haitani: First, I have to say from experience that any answer I give will be misinterpreted as a tacit admission that we are developing alternate platforms. That said, I will repeat what we have said for years�we are focused on the customer experience first, and operating systems or any other technology only matter to the extent that they can support a superior customer experience. So yes, the Treo platform operating system is agnostic. The true value of a Treo is not in any individual piece of the puzzle, but the integrated experience.
Questions 6-10: Applications >>
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