New projects are always exciting. Team members will have plenty of ideas and it can be hard to determine just where to begin.
Why build it?
While a new project is sure to be exciting, it also can be stressful for participants. Everyone on the team will have ideas, but each may also have a different motivation for its creation. In the end, many reasons may drive a developer or company to spend time and resources on the creation of an application:
- The product does not yet exist. There is a gap in the market just waiting to be filled.
- A similar product exists, but it could be improved through enhancements in design, technology or processes.
- A market or technology has matured, providing a larger number of addressable devices or strengthening user habits in a given area (for example, more Wi-Fi hot spots and better device technology have increased the use of Wi-Fi on mobile devices).
- User needs may have evolved (perhaps in response to new technologies or trends such as social networking).
- A new or updated technology has created new opportunities for application development.
- The project is purely business driven (for example, a company that makes games may want to create a new game to reach a new market or user group).
As you may have noticed, the reasons above often overlap and are influenced by a combination of technology, user, and business needs.
Choosing the technology
The emergence of a new technology can seem like an ideal reason to create a product. But, is it wise to choose a new technology so early on?
There is no hard and fast rule. Tying your project to a new technology may sometimes be necessary, but doing so will almost always influence the product’s features, its performance, and its look and feel. For example, a game created using HTML and JavaScript™ technology will have limited capabilities compared with one coded in the Java™ or C language. It will, however, have other advantages, such as the ability to be updated easily in response to bug identification, user requests, or market changes.
Early on in the project, you may not fully understand who the product is for, what it will do, and how it will differentiate itself from similar products. Delaying technology choices until some of these questions have been answered will help you create a better product.
Project constraints
Making application development even more exciting is the fact that most product concepts are subject to a set of constraints.
Let’s examine the example below, which represents the needs and constraints that might affect development of a social networking application.
The business motivations in the example are tightly linked with the user behaviour, but also with the availability of technology. If the technology were not available, the product idea would still be interesting, but perhaps not feasible in light of the time constraints.
Developing a successful product
Successful balancing of needs, motivations, and constraints requires careful planning and a strong understanding of many diverse areas. To ensure the best outcomes during the planning process, all team members should have knowledge of the following:
- The mobile market: What devices are most popular with your target audience? Will your choice of technology, audience, or features affect your ability to distribute or sell your product?
- The available technologies: The more you know about the available technologies, the easier it will be to test the feasibility of your ideas early on.
- The business goals and/or business model: Some products are created just for fun, but if you’re in business, there’s a good chance that product creation will be tied to your overall business objectives. A clear understanding of these objectives will enable you to make decisions about the project that suit the your budget and long-term goals.
- The mobile consumer: Designing a mobile application is quite different from designing desktop software. What are the habits of mobile consumers? Do these habits vary from region to region? Are they affected by age, gender, or other factors
- Your audience: Who is your product’s intended audience? Which of their behaviours and motivations will your product address? See Design research for more information about understanding your audience.
- Your competition: Do similar products exist? What are their flaws? Where do they excel? How will your product compete?
Obtaining all this knowledge may seem daunting, but many resources are available to help. The resource section below provides links to assist you in better understanding the mobile market and device landscape. In Design research, we’ll examine simple ways to develop a stronger understanding of why and how consumers use mobile devices and where your product could fit in.
Links and resources
The market and device landscape
Explore Nokia’s extensive device collection in the Devices section. You can filter devices by characteristics such as platform, screen size, and browser technology. The section
also provides a tool that enables side-by-side comparison of device specifications.
DeviceAtlas provides a comprehensive device database along with tools to search and analyse the data. You can search for specific device
properties or create customised, multi-query graphs and charts.
The Opera State of the Mobile Web report, published monthly, provides statistics regarding mobile internet usage in countries and regions around the world.
Visit the Devices section to explore Nokia devices, which ship with the Opera Mini browser.
Product and design inspiration
The Mobile Design Gallery features examples of well-designed mobile websites, widgets, and applications. Each case study includes images of key
screens and an explanation of why the example was chosen, from both visual- and interaction-design perspectives.
The Innovation Series on YouTube features an extensive collection of interviews and case studies on mobile products. Topics include product
design, business models, and how the choice of technology contributed to product success.
