Voxygen

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the Voxygen office. Good fun though as I’ve had a chance to do some sketching for an experience design we’re developing. As the paper mounted up I thought it would be fun to lay some of it out. You can see how we began with a series of mind maps to capture the issues and our ideas. These then formed the basis of more formalised flow diagrams using personas, which were then turned into different narratives to give more relevance. My post it note doodles were then worked-up by our storyboard artist.

Like many people, we find sketching an incredibly useful way of developing and refining thinking in the same way you would use sketching to develop a 3d form.

It was inevitable that the unprecedented media coverage, anticipation and speculation in the run-up to the launch of the iPad would quickly morph into debate and analysis. And so it was. Within minutes of the launch event, people on the blogosphere, in offices and coffee shops around the world began discussing the merits of the device and whether it met expectations.

Most of the discussion so far appears to focus on the device itself and its features. This is regardless of whether you were at the event, have experienced an iPad first hand or whether you’ve just seen the pictures. What does it feel like to hold and use? Does it run flash, can I have more than one application open at a time, does it have a camera and so on. So far the reception seems mixed. That may change once people start using the iPad (certainly Stephen Fry’s view in today’s Guardian) and Apple products do have a history of improving with later models. The fact that the focus of the debate is about the device itself is understandable, but following the iPad launch via a live blog there was something that bothered me at the time. A few hours later I realised it was this picture…

a slide from Steve Job's presentation at the launch of the iPad

Looking at these 3 devices together it struck me that the real opportunity here is the new system the iPad creates rather than the device itself, which after all, some are interpreting as an enlarged iPod. An evolution rather than revolution.

Apple is a leader in ‘joined-up’ and design thinking. For example, they saw that an MP3 player is just a commodity without a compelling way to access music. So they created a ‘system’ which included access to content. It’s the combination of the iPod with iTunes which is so powerful. Again they nailed this with the iPhone and the App Store. The iPhone would just be another smart phone in the long run were it not for the App Store. The ‘system’ has preserved the longevity and robustness of the iPhone’s popularity.

Don’t get me wrong, the iPad itself makes a lot sense. It is a milestone device that will further enable and change the way we interact and experience the online world and other content. The device’s dimensions also address the problem that no matter how good a small device like the iPod can be, some activities just require a larger scale. Either because of ergonomic factors such as keyboard size or some content such as newspapers or movies are best experienced at a large size.

So the iPad is perfectly placed to fit into, and will no doubt add momentum to many influential themes such as convergence, mobility, social connectedness, open source, cloud computing as well as opening new possibilities for applications and content.

But here’s what’s bothering me, at least. In another sense the iPad is anti convergent. As good as the functions and features it offers are, in reality it‘s another device that people will have to carry around and use along with the other ones they already have. The iPad is not a replacement for the phone or laptop and people will need all of these. So stepping back from the device itself and looking at the system it fits into, it’s not actually the step forward it could be.

For some situations you just want the real thing, be it a camera with a decent lens or a proper sized and tactile keyboard. At some point, the amount of features you can stuff into a device leads to compromises, whereby in the end you still revert to specialised devices. We just end up with more gadgets and complexity, not less. So rather than focusing on how many features can be put into something, perhaps the opportunity is how brilliant devices connect and interact with each other. The iPhone, Macbook and iPad are 3 such devices. Give me a really good camera that easily talks to the other devices it needs to.

Rather than applying design thinking just within each vertical i.e. iPod to iTunes, iPad to app store, the new device is a strategic opportunity to extend the idea laterally between the devices as well as a great product in it’s own right. In other words Apple had, and still has, an opportunity to apply design thinking up another layer by thinking about the way these 3 types of devices (phone, tablet, laptop) could interact and connect with each other in the physical and virtual sense and also extend this through to other elements outside the Apple system. Now that would have been a revolutionary launch context for the iPad.

System or "Joined-Up" thinking used by Apple

So am I the only one thinking…

The above sketch crudely illustrates how considering the way the devices interact in the physical and virtual sense would create some interesting outcomes. In this context, perhaps the iPad is actually just the next generation of laptop screens which are detachable, multi-function, gestural devices as standard. You have a main unit with a powerful CPU and large hard drive, a proper keyboard (i.e. all the benefits of the laptop). You have the ability to detach the iPad for a tablet mode and you have an integrated dock for an iPhone which, with an interactive casing and screen, could double up as the mouse. The devices could share one power supply as opposed to having to lug three around.

There may be some interesting options for the way the devices could interact with each other as well. The way they could share data, be sync’d to the same cloud access points such as the app store and control and talk to each other. Perhaps, a new type of device will emerge that connects all these things together.

Whether devices combine in this exact fashion or not, isn’t really my point, after all the idea of a modular computer is not new. But there’s a deeper opportunity here. Sure the iPad creates another clever niche, but as good as the promise the device holds in isolation, the real opportunity is how Apple’s core product range works as a system. iSystem anyone?

I’m pleased to say that as of today Blabbelon.com launched its BETA service, based upon the work of the team here at Voxygen.

For those who are just learning about Blabbelon, it is a push-to-talk communications product that we helped conceive, develop, create and build, using a combination of proprietary (patents filed) technology and cutting edge open source software.

The most interesting thing for me about this one, and the reason I jumped on the project in the first place, is:-

1. Blabbelon is not about cheap minutes
2. It’s VoIP, but it’s not telephony
3. What better a use-case do you want for demonstrating that VoIP has value of and in itself other than a bunch of online users that have a genuine need to talk to each other?

After an initial few weeks of discussion, deciding that yes we can do this and agreeing to take on the project, we worked with Blabbelon to crystallize the vision for the product:-

1. Provide great sound quality that would be unduplicated in the gaming industry
2. Delivery one click simplicity for the user where possible
3. Offer a feature set that solves the problems gamers face when using existing VoIP products targeted at them

This presented a number of problems that we had to find technical solutions for.

First, a one-click experience generally means web-based applications (no downloads) and a URL based infrastructure. So we knew Blabbelon had to be web-based, but browsers are not really designed to service high quality voice applications.

Secondly, being web-based meant we had to find a codec that we could embed in either Flash or JAVA.

The codec we wanted from the get-go was Skype’s SILK codec, which has both superb audio quality and a small network bandwidth footprint. A few conversations with Skype and we had an early BETA version of the SILK binaries which we then set about making work in a browser. For this I hired Westhawk Limited, a leading expert on JAVA and VoIP services to execute (probably the best in this field in the world). Together we got this to work, through some clever code trickery that makes the underlying OS run a binary that is native to the OS, and isn’t running under JAVA, yet is still controlled by the browser. Problems solved.

Our process in order to achieve the best possible user-experience for gamers was to employ gamers. A group of early adopter and big Ventrillo users from a Guild in World of Warcraft became our testing companions for the next few months as we developed a feature set and more detailed set of requirements based on our early prototyping. This revealed to us a number of interesting findings and set us off into quite new directions – concepts such as audio being the primary user-interface (most gamers inevitably have a game in front of them, not the Blabbelon UI).

The whole process has taken about 10 months, end-to-end, to achieve a launchable BETA product. It’s not perfect and we still have some work to do, as well as some kinks to iron out. But as with every new software launch, especially one where boundaries are being pushed further and further, requires a period to effect a full test, complete with real users and users with a fresh set of eyes.

Our commitment to our client now becomes one of remaining agile and adapting to user reactions and feedback as quickly as possible. We anticipate another 6-8 weeks of fairly intensive development work on the back of Blabbelons now rapidly growing user base.

The work never stops, and we’re already starting to roadmap out to version 3 for the client with planning out budgeting requirements and strategies for 2010.

Thankfully, my client is only one click away.

Remember in the late 1980s, when everyone thought it was so futuristic to plug a little box into the phone that would tell you who was calling and the number they were calling from?

Caller ID once was one of the most promising ideas of the telecommunications landscape. The disheartening part to that story, though, is that in the 20+ years since Caller ID was first mass marketed, not much about the technology has changed. Sure, it now has features that make it available on handsets, and it can enable you to block certain callers. But it is no longer considered a preeminent telecommunications technology.

That’s exactly why we at Voxygen have developed a software-based technology known as Next Generation Caller ID. At its core, the technology replaces existing Caller ID with a session-based link between voice and data, which provides context around voice sessions. It does this using existing user behaviour, whereby the user just calls the number on a website or application, unlike traditional click to call systems which use an embedded software client.

What this means for carriers is they now are able to provide their customers with an abundance of information that is invaluable. For instance, instead of just telling a user who’s calling, Next Generation Caller ID tells a user why the caller is calling, what they want, when the call originated, and from where the call is originating, such as from a PBX, a business number or a home.

Thinking about this in a few practical applications enables you to appreciate why Next Generation Caller ID can be extremely powerful. For instance, think about booking a flight online, only to get to a certain point in the process that requires you to speak to a live person. Despite that you’ve already spent time typing in a great deal of the information necessary for your flight, you’re forced to repeat everything again for the airline customer service representative. With Next Generation Caller ID, that information is pushed along to the operator, so you don’t have to repeat everything, and the problem is solved without duplication and wasted time.

In another scenario, you might call technical support about a problem with your computer. Instead of having to provide the technical support staff with information about your operating system, firewall, and other computer details, the information is provided to him automatically through the Next Generation Caller ID platform.

Voxygen now is in the process of working with one of Europe’s largest global carriers to take this patented software solution to market. Because Next Generation Caller ID is a product that works with all current telephony phone systems – both landline and mobile – it requires no network upgrades, and installation and training are simple to implement.

Businesses stand to benefit the most, as they more effectively learn how to deal with calls with rich data added to the context of the Caller ID information. One prime example is the elimination of one of the most reviled telephony dinosaurs in existence: interactive voice response (IVR) units.

IVRs almost always create a bad user experience, and users are ready for the next evolutionary step that will make business calling easier and more efficient. Next Generation Caller ID pulls so much information at the beginning of the call that it literally pushes the user straight through to the right person, intelligently, instead of forcing the caller to try to figure out who the right person is. This is made possible as our software provides context around why the user is calling and where (and if necessary how) to best route the call.

Users also will benefit from the software as they are able to accomplish their goals more quickly and experience improved customer service from both their telephony provider and businesses that implement the service. Gone will be the days of wading through endless voice mail systems or spending hours on the Internet to make a purchase, only to have the system freeze and send you to an operator who has no idea what your browsing history was.

But telephony providers also stand to inherit quite a legacy from Next Generation Caller ID. The software provides them with an incredible value-added service that is simple to implement, easy to maintain and of inestimable benefit for all of their customers. As with our European customer, other telephony customers now can start developing ways to bridge new relationships between who their customers are, what they need, where they are and how they’re communicating with other clients that utilise services across their networks.