S60 Open to new features

Few articles in S60 blog have already referred to S60 360 user study . From the user demographics we can see that about 80% of people taking part to study are male. I believe that study gender distribution is very close to general S60 figures so most likely less than 20% of S60 users are female. I can’t blame women. In general S60 products are bigger than other mobile phones and I’m very sorry dear licensees, but I wouldn’t call S60 devices particularly beautiful. There are some S60 products which have some uniqueness in design, specialty which doesn’t ruin the usability. I think Panasonic X800 is one of the best. Nokia’s E60 is also nice and slim.

Great software doesn’t make a great mobile phone. Hardware plays a very important role. I can point out 2 models where search of specialty and uniqueness have resulted bad usability. The winners are Nokia 3650 and Siemens SX1. No special awards given this time. Please promise me, no more round keypads or keypads split on the both sides of the screen.

It seems to be very challenging to get the design right. Nokia 6600 is like Toyota Corolla. It’s good example how you can sell huge number of phones when it is very balanced monoblock design, but all phones can’t belong that category. I would love to use sleek metal, premium style S60 phone (look at Nokia 8800). Am I the only one? Actually I also like very much about Vertu Ascent design. Look at this leather, small screws, finished touch, real materials, not plastic. Vertu products belong to niche segment and I would use that money to something else – most of the people regardless of gender would do so, so maybe that’s not exactly the biggest hole in S60 range.

Back to the original topic: S60 and female users or lack of female users. I think there is lots of room to improve what comes to making S60 devices interesting to women. Hardware and design is the first one but most likely things could be better in the software side as well.

What women want (from mobile)?
LimeLife has revealed the findings of a research examining the mobile motivations, usage patterns and content interests of women. LimeLife predicts that the number of women ages 15-45 who download mobile content will grow to 20 million by 2007.
1. The mobile phone initially serves as a “private line” for girls 16-17 then evolves to an “always with me connected buddy” during college years, gradually becoming more functional and ultimately beginning to serve as a “command central” for working moms and women pursuing careers.
2. Games are second only to ringtones for desired mobile downloads among women.
3. 67% of those surveyed showed strong interest in wallpapers made from “Photos I Take.” Further, the use of ringtones as “caller ID” identifiers is also representative of the importance of customization and personalization in mobile content for younger women. 69% of women surveyed, aged 18-22, have already downloaded one or more ringtones.
Although the research is obviously focused on mobile content, I believe marketers can also take great advantage of such fidings. If you know what women like, it is becomes easier (or at least, less difficult) to create the mobile marketing campaigns targeting them.

All the female S60 users, now I have question to you. Why S60 phone was your choide? Any advice to engineers in here?