Mobile Discovery: T9 Nav vs Qix
Discovery was predominant at the Mobile World Congress. T9 Nav made a big splash as did Qix. But what is all the fuss about?
On-device discovery is one of the more predictable evolutions in mobile services, but it is fundamental to the progress of the mobile industry as well as to the introduction of disruptive services such as music features and mobile advertising.
Interest in mobile multimedia services, from music to adult content to podcasts, means that mobile phones are increasingly being used to store more than pictures. Communities and services are evolving, which means that sharing and accessing content on the fly is much more important. We are seeing the emergence of a definite, strong trend towards instant access.
This does not mean one or two clicks to access content and services, rather it demands a more streamlined and predictable way for consumers to access the content stored on their phone, including that they’ve just downloaded. So content and applications and RSS feeds or bookmarks are found at ease.
The template of success for discovery services and features needs to be similar to that of IM providers. This means that discovery should also mean swapping and sharing or locating content instantly.
At Mobile World Congress I tested both Qix and T9 and I was impressed with both. But at the same time both services also fell short of adding a “share” or “community” aspect to discovery. Where they have made it easy to find services by reducing the number of clicks they have not made it easy to switch into a community mode to send or share the bookmark or content.
This is the downfall of the discovery tools at the moment.
If you look at the screen shots the premise of both Qix and T9 Nav are the same. You type a number you get the words or numbers that match the query. But my point is that is discovery enough? So I have found it how many clicks will it now take for me to access or use this information? It could take considerably more. The winner in the discovery race will be the company that teams up with an IM provider or manipulates an IM style service to add one click share, send and use to this tool.
Related News:
Leave a Comment