Phonecams and Unintended Consequences
How do you use the camera integrated into your cell phone?
There were some great tips over on 43 Folders regarding how having a phonecam on-hand can save you time and free you from frustration. Need to remember where you parked? Snap a photo. Want to remember the name of that great wine served at a party? snap a photo. Taking a new bus route and haven’t yet memorized your route or bus connections? Snap some pics of the transit map at the bus terminal. Doing some comparison shopping? Snap a pic of the price tags.
Do you think anyone on the engineering team considered these uses? Do you think these uses were at any time in the minds of the marketing department?
Yet little by little people are becoming reliant upon the ability to capture large amounts of minutia with their phonecam. Did your girlfriend just purchase some purfume? Snap a pic quick so you’ll know what you’re after come her birthday. Are you wondering if the toy you’re holding in your hands is the one your grandkid asked for Christmas? Snap a pick and send it to his folks for clarification. A thousand and one uses and likely not a single one envisioned by those building, marketing and selling phonecams.
It’s a great example of the Law of Unintended Consequences at play. There’s no reason that any of the phone manufacturers, mobility companies or sales staff should have anticipated these uses. But once the customers began to discover and innovate additional uses, it’s almost inexcusable that they wouldn’t take note and help promote such uses. A little while back, I overheard a woman making some inquiries at a mall kiosk as to why she should want to pay more for a phone with a camera. The clerk offered up that its great for snapshots. She countered that she just bought a digital camera, why should she get a phonecam with inferior resolution? The best he could manage is that she might forget her camera and the phone’s a good backup.
Your customers are innovating for you. They’re finding value in your products that are far and beyond what’s there. Through blogs and search engines it is possible for you to find these uses - why wouldn’t you amplify them? Folks, when you ask the customers ‘what’s 2 + 3′ and they answer with ‘monkeys’, its time to stop talking numbers and start talking bananas.
