The Register
Bit of a lightweight article, but some interesting insights into a recent bit of youth consumer research on new technologies. Apparantly British youth is sceptical of new cellular tech – in the face of constant underwhelming launches. But this reluctance to use video is very interesting:
“…The report concluded that most 15-year-olds to 24-year-olds felt that the ability to use the visual aspect of the video calling and messaging can be both unnecessary and unwelcome. They felt more pressurised to tell the truth and worried about their appearance…”
Compare this to the storming uptake of video and MMS in Japan/Aisa – link1, link2. Both links from The Feature.
Why is this? Is it becuase the technology is simply better/faster/more usable/cooler? Or is the infamous British uptightness manifesting itself? I think it’s a bit of both – it’ll be interesting to see webcam usage stats, now that a) they’re cheap and ok and b) integrated into MSN Messenger – will the kids still use text based format to avoid the discomfort of featuring on video?
A future adult generation 100% comfortable/expectant of video-based interaction – this should shift the design of learning interaction somewhat.
Obviously another lesson for the telcos (and us all, really) is sometimes introducing technology without polished use, interopability (and often tacked with high prices) is a bad business idea. All a bit obvious really…