So the iPhone SDK was announced, along with, in my mind, the real brilliant show-stopper, the iPhone App Store. Everything else in the announcement, in my opinion, was ‘meh’. Except that iPhone App Store. It’s everything that Nokia’s Download! application should be, in my opinion.
I’ve talked about what I think the Download! app should be previously, and this will echo alot of that. Personally, I think a major holdup in the S60 community has to do with the current 3rd party application situation, from development to distribution to maintenance. I’ve recently talked to 3 ‘normobs’ who had an S60 device (all three had N75s from AT&T, oddly enough), and I noticed a trend – none of them had ANY 3rd party applications on their devices. I thought that was rather interesting, and asked them about it.
First of all, and possibly the most disturbing to me, was that none of them were aware that their handset ran S60. When I told them it was the user interface of their handset, I got one ‘Oh, like Windows Mobile?’ and 2 ‘like the iPhone has its own user interface?’s. That really bothers me, and I can’t help but point out again that they had all bought their handset directly from AT&T. That means that Nokia’s reps weren’t doing a good job educating AT&T’s reps about S60 so that they could, in turn, educate consumers.
I also noticed that none of them (unsurprisingly) had any 3rd party applications installed. I asked about this, pulling out my own N95-3 and showing them the familiar interface (which they all commented ‘looks like my phone, cool’), and then showing a few applications. The first question, and I think the most important, that’s not being answered, was ‘where do I get applications at?’ This brings up 2 issues, actually. The first is that Nokia allowed AT&T to remove the Download! application from their branded units. Bad move. That should be non-negotiable, as it’s still somewhat of a source for applications. The second issue is where the iPhone’s App Store comes in.
The iPhone App Store does several things that the Nokia Download! application SHOULD do:
1. It’s on every single iPhone. That’s important. The Nokia Download! Application should be on every single S60 handset, Nseries, Eseries, Multimedia Phone (the four-digit named ones), whatever. It should be hardwired into the firmware, end of story.
2. 3rd party developers can easily list their applications in the iPhone App Store. This one is crucial, really, and is the biggest problem with the Download! app: There’s no way for 3rd party developers to list their application.
3. It lets you know when an application has been updated. Again, key feature. If I have an application, I should have some way to know that it’s been updated, specially for bug fixes or whatnot. The iPhone has an advantage on this one, because it’s ONLY sold (with few instances) with an unlimited data plan. However, there are still ways in which the Download! app could notify you of application updates.
So how do new users get applications? They have to really dig into the community. They have to get hooked into blogs such as Symbian-Guru.com (and yes, all three of these people have said they’d check the site out, score. :)), as well as communities such as HowardForums.com. I’ve said tons of times that a big draw to the S60 platform, for me, is the high level of community. I have tons of people I call friends that I’ve met solely through the S60 community. I love it. However, it also presents a HUGE barrier to new users. Whereas, with the iPhone App Store, a user can pick up his iPhone for the first time, press one icon, and is instantly introduced to the opportunities his handset is able to offer. THAT should be the ‘out of box’ experience of an S60 phone that is ‘Open To New Features.’ It should be the very first thing experienced by new users.
I have more to come on this in the near future, but I wanted to put my thoughts out there. What do you think is the biggest barrier to new S60 users fully enjoying the freedom of their handset?
Bonus Link: Eric Zeman’s post on InformationWeek and Michael Mace’s post on Mobile Opportunity (you should have Michael in your RSS. He puts as much time into one post as most bloggers put into 5-6, which is why he only posts 1-2/week.
