Challis Hodge’s UXblog

MacDonalds is taking advantage of the ubiquity of clell phones in Japan to introduce QR codes on its sandwich wrappers. The codes, commonly used to code business cards for scanning by cell phones, will contain nutritional information for each of 19 sandwiches. They’ve also created cell phone friendly URLs for those with out cameras in their phones.

I think MacDonalds’ is smart to get out ahead of the curve on the nutritional issue. At a time when obesity is creeping around the globe and local government in the US are banning transfats, it makes sense to be prepared to embrace new trends. Placement of nutritional information on wrappers and websites makes it easy to change ingredients in response to local trends without incurring huge printing expenses. Not to mention the opportunities to build their brand through online and wireless channels. I’m lovin it!

Virgin Mobile announced yesterday that it is offering it’s customers the option to earn minutes in exchange for viewing and responding to ads. They are initially targeting teenagers and twenty-somethings but believe the model has potential with a broader audience of value conscious customers.

Under the offer, customers of Virgin, a venture of Sprint Nextel (S.N) and Richard Branson’s Virgin (VA.UL), can get up to 75 minutes of free calls per month if they spend an equal amount of time looking at ads and replying to these ads via text messages.

The BlackBerry service for checking e-mail on the go will be available on a non-BlackBerry device for the first time in the United States with the November launch of the Nokia smart phone by Cingular Wireless.

Cingular is charging $350 for the Nokia 9300 device - $50 less for customers who commit for two years - and $45 per month for unlimited e-mail usage. That’s the same rate Cingular charges for BlackBerry service on a BlackBerry device. The Nokia 9300 runs on the Symbian operating system, a best-selling platform in Europe and other overseas markets.

“Big changes are in store for the wireless industry. The trends over the next year will be the specialization of wireless communications services and the emergence of the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Developments like these will leave the wireless carriers as we know them today in a serious identity crisis.

Some of you may remember that last year Virgin, the ultra-mega-uber-conglomerate based in the UK, announced it would be getting into the wireless service business. Virgin was not intending to build its own network, though, just resell the services of Orange and Vodafone. Well, the MVNO plan worked: Virgin Mobile was the fastest-growing provider of wireless services in the UK last year. It’s all in the power of the brand.” More here…

“Consumers have a message for companies trying to figure out why the wireless Web market has failed to take off in this country: It’s the screen, stupid.”

We at HannaHodge have a message for the wireless web market. Wake up and stop implementing technology just because you can. People’s lives continue to get more complex and they simply won’t adopt digital products and services just because you build them. You have to understand your customers at the local cultural level. Just because it worked in Japan or Finland doesn’t mean the same product or service will work in the US.

Future business success depends on understanding your customers’ wants and needs and delivering solutions that meet them. Investors and shareholders will not continue to tolerate throwing technology at the wall to see if it sticks. Invest in significant user research to compliment market and secondary research. Understand the problem, the context and solve it using the appropriate technology. Then, and only then, do you need to worry about getting the screen right! Read the article here.

Which Fonts Do Children Prefer to Read Online?
Interesting study on the online font preferences of children. The sample size was relatively small, 12 participants. Interestingly they didn’t test Verdana which seems to be commonly used online. View the study at Usability News. You can also check out “Determining the Best Online Font for Older Adults” in the same issue.

Sony has developed a prototype “InfoStick” that will deliver Bluetooth capability to cameras, televisions and other electronic devices. The Infosticks will be used in the slots normally reserved for Sony’s “MemorySticks” More here.

For all of you wireless junkies WirelessDevNet now has a wireless weblog. Bookmark this one!

With the number of IM users expected to hit 200 million this year and major corporations such as Cisco beginning to adapt the software as a communications standard, the market�s ripe for expansion. International Data Corp. projects that corporate use will increase by 140%, leaping from 5.5 million users to 180 million in 2004. By that time, IDC estimates the number of messages sent will approach 2 trillion annually. This is an exciting space to watch. The folks at ActiveBuddy are looking to enhance the basic IM with notification and other services. Fact is it already exists through companies like Spyonit.com. BTW. Spyonit.com can notify you via e-mail, im, etc. when UXblog is updated!