Image via WikipediaTake Google’s Android smart phone operating system, a Qualcomm application processor, some parts that look like they were scavenged from a PSPGo, put them in a bag, and shake them up. What do you get?
If SonyEricsson is lucky, a hit. If it’s not so lucky, it will get something like the late, not-so-great Nokia N-Gage. Call it a case study in trying to hard: it was a phone; it was a digital music player; it had nice nubby buttons you could mash to play games. And it looked ridiculous.
Here’s an early look at what went wrong from my former colleague, Matt Maier, writing in the 2004 issue of the now defunct Business 2.0.
The N-Gage developers flunked Design 101 too, critics say. Nokia signed off on a model that requires gamers to remove the back of the device and pull out the battery to swap in a game card. Even some Nokia employees were left scratching their heads by that decision. “We’re not really sure how that one got off the drawing board,” admits Nokia spokeswoman Laurie Armstrong. Even worse, the device makes gamers–typically a self-conscious lot–feel like dorks: To use the phone, they have to hold it sideways against their heads, as if talking into a taco. Users look so ridiculous that some created websites like www.sidetalkin.com, which displays pictures of perplexed people trying to talk into all manner of ungainly hardware, from Roland 808 synthesizers to Atari 2600s.
With any luck, the folks at SonyEricsson will have learned from the N-Gage’s failure. By trying this, however, they obviously haven’t learned from the success of Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. Both have great games, thanks to a touch-screen and sophisticated sensors, but neither even try to compete with the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP when it comes to dishing up button-mashing glee. After all, there’s only one button to mash.
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