Helio's Answer to I-Phone

A wonderful new article came out in the MIT Technology Review May/June issue focusing on Helio's upcoming phone, the Ocean. I wish I had a link to the article, but perhaps it will pop up in the Technology Review website in a few days: http://www.technologyreview.com/

The Ocean is featured in the cover of the magazine's "Design" Issue, and is graciously named a "Beautiful machine". Helio, a joint venture between Korea's SK Telecom and Earthlink, has focused on the youth market segment like its rival MVNO Amp'd Mobile. The company, which is still shedding millions of dollars each year, is banking on the new phone, the pill-shaped Ocean, to garner the public's attention.

At $295, it is significantly cheaper than the I-Phone, is unusually shaped, is designed to look sleek and thin (though it is not a thin phone, at 56 mm, but perception is everything!) and features a double hinge design that slides to give BOTH a numerical keypad panel and another QWERTY keyboard panel. If you are using the phone features, the keyboard panel stays hidden.

The phone was designed to function vertical orientation as a communication device with the numeric keypad, but a horizontal orientation if the music, video or the mobile internet options were being used with the QWERTY keyboard. Play, pause, stop, rewind and forward buttons are also included. This is a little bit how I use my Sidekick III, sans the numeric keypad. What is remarkable is that, in order to be best in class even for mobile games, the Ocean introduces a third orientation: by flipping the typical horizontal orientation 180 degrees, the 4-direction pad, which is typically on the right of the device for natural web navigation (mobile users typically use their right thumb to navigate) is now to the left of the phone (which is typical for game console controllers), while the "button", used for shooting or firing in mobile games, is now on the right side. The games are effectively played on the upside-down phone -- Helio's designers made every effort to ensure the design gave the user the best experience while using the phone as a communication, media or gaming device. It's quite remarkable.

OTA Mobile music downloads will be supported (unlike the I-Phone), as well as sideloading from the computer, and from DRM-free songs from Apple and EMI Music. In so many ways, the company has thought well and hard about how best to address the arrested adoption of mobile media and games. They solidly address an issue that many experts have warned of again and again -- adoption will be most impacted by the user experience -- enhancing design to optimize the user experience will be among the best things a handset manufacturer can do, so Helio's halfway there. If the seamlessness and ease of use is extended to the software that handles common functions such as locating, discovering, purchasing and/or downloading mobile media and games, then adoption should accelerate.

Helio is taking several pages from Apple's marketing and branding book by opening retail stores that push the Helio experience. The first four stores in Santa Monica, San Diego, Denver and Palo Alto are already open, and the fifth, in my town, New York will open in the SoHo district -- I can't wait!

As we move into this new world of mobile entertainment, hopefully the handset manufacturers are all taking a good look at what Helio is doing. The article quotes Steve Walker, VP and global head of marketing at Sony Ericsson as saying, "When a product category emerges, early adopters look from a functional perspective. But when the market matures -- with later-adopting consumers, who have less functional demands -- the importance of the aesthetic design becomes proportionally more important." Though the mobile media market is still immature, the traditional media market and its functional requirements is most certainly not. Helio's doing the right thing by deciding to leapfrog the traditional thinking and incorporate design aesthetics so early in an immature market. Hopefully it pays off for them.