In an effort to catch up with the years of strategic advantage in product design enjoyed by world-class innovators in Universal Design in Japan, Korea, and other nations AT&T has released a simple restatement of Universal Design principles.
By branding UD as somehow proprietary to AT&T this cultural product of the Disability Rights Movement created and promoted by quadriplegic architect Ron Mace of North Carolina and further developed since its creation in the 1970's now seems to have achieved the same degree of ubiquity that leads to "greenwashing" marketing strategies.
Universal Design is a set of principles that launch the long hard process of good design not a "let-me-on-the-bandwagon-too" marketing campaign. The generation that invented Universal Design and the Disability Rights Movement - Baby Boomers - is well represented in the 36,200 references that come up when you Google the phrase "I hate my cell phone." AT&T, the future of your product line depends on getting UD right.
Botton line? Show us full lines of universally designed mobile phones operating on US networks - now!
"It is our goal that the concept of 'design for all' is not viewed as a constraint but as a catalyst for innovation across the industry," said Carlton Hill, vice president of Marketing for AT&T's mobile unit. "We believe that, by making our methodology on Universal Design available for all to see, we can show the importance and value of creating wireless products and services that are usable and beneficial to as many people as possible. The end result will be more choices for more consumers."Source: FierceWireless
From FierceDeveloper:
AT&T announced it will publicly release its Universal Design methodology in an effort to encourage application developers and handset manufacturers to consider the needs of seniors and customers with disabilities when creating new mobile products and services. AT&T said principles of Universal Design--the practice of developing apps and products usable by the widest possible spectrum of subscribers--are employed in its fledgling Mobile Speak and Mobile Magnifier applications, which the operator released late last year to improve the user experience for customers suffering from impaired vision. AT&T said its methodology not only defines and explains the benefits of Universal Design but also several scenarios to further illustrate its relevance--the full document is available at http://developer.att.com/universaldesign.
Developers must first submit applications created via Universal Design principles to AT&T for certification if they wish for the apps to be available on the operator's Media Mall mobile site. Consumers who download premium applications will be billed by AT&T, which will split revenues with the developer. "It is our goal that the concept of 'design for all' is not viewed as a constraint but as a catalyst for innovation across the industry," said AT&T Mobility vice president of marketing Carlton Hill in a prepared statement. "We believe that, by making our methodology on Universal Design available for all to see, we can show the importance and value of creating wireless products and services that are usable and beneficial to as many people as possible. The end result will be more choices for more consumers."
For more on AT&T's Universal Design specs:
Posted by rollingrains at March 19, 2008 11:53 PM
-read this release