disruptors and mousetrap builders
I carry an iPhone by Apple. It's a very clever and useful device. IN FACT, if I had the "opportunity" to carry any other device I really don't believe that I would. I can remember when I first decided to leave my first cellular provider, and go with AT&T so that I could carry the iPhone. The decision was made based on the idea that the iPhone was actually two devices that I was thinking about buying at the same time ...
1. A new cell phone
2. A new iPod
The choice was really easy. Too easy when I think back on it. It was a natural fit. The iPhone had all of the features that I could have ever wanted, and the idea of being able to add the applications that I wanted to the device as time went on, was an added bonus. The iPhone was not only something that I wanted, it was something that I needed and didn't even know I needed. How did Apple know that I would need the iPhone. NOT "need" in the literal sense, BUT need in the sense of making my life easier to manage and keep track of, all the while keeping me "connected".
HOW did they know? "They" being Apple. Could they have been designing or innovating from a HUMAN CENTERED approach? Could they have been looking at the VERY BIG picture and designing towards that? Did they have blinders on? I think they had blinders on, because at the time of it's creation the iPhone had no "clones", the iPhone was NOT a "better mousetrap", it was indeed a "disruption". It disrupted how we all looked at the cell phone, Heck, It changed how we view the cell phone industry all together ... And along came the "Mousetrap Builders"....
For EVER I have heard ... "If you want to make MORE money, get MORE fans, get more traction in the marketplace... Build a better mousetrap." THIS single thought has been one of the biggest downfalls to human innovation over the past 50 years. At least I think so. By thinking that we can simply take an existing idea, and make that idea just slightly better to "catch mice" ...
Sidebar: Who OR what are the mice? Ummm... Food for thought....
This broken idea of "mousetraps" causes innovators like BlackBerry (nothing against BlackBerry) to create devices like "The Storm" or even innovation giants like Google (nothing against Google) to create devices like the Nexus (still a rumor, I think). Who is going to REDEFINE the game all together? Nokia with the Morph ? Maybe. Fact is, there is only one iPhone, and there will always only be one iPhone, however; there are other innovations to be made. Should we, as Designers, be looking at how humans interact in fresh new ways? should our connection to our devices change? IS THERE a more integrated approach to how we access data and connect with each other? Maybe.
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+ Pictured Above: The Nokia Morph Concept
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STOP building better mousetraps, and for the record, I am not a "mouse". Build something I can use, something that I don't even know that I need yet. You have to decide, and decide now .. Which are you? A Disruptor or a Mousetrap Builder?



