The Real Genius of Apple's iPhone

Word is the newly announced phone from Steve Jobs will transcend superficial design and deliver user-friendly function and limitless adaptability

by Jessie Scanlon and Helen Walters

Apple's (AAPL) introduction of the iPhone on Tuesday (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/10/07, "The Future of Apple") underscores the lesson Motorola (MOT) learned with the Razr: A sleek, sexy design can create lots of buzz and drive sales, but without smart, usable interface design, consumers will end up angry and disinclined to buy your next "hot" mobile-phone offering.

Design has nominally been a priority of cell-phone makers for a while now, at least since Nokia took the No. 1 spot in the market, thanks, in part, to its focus on color and style. Samsung played the design card in its rise. Then came LG, with its "Chocolate." But design, as these companies have embraced it, is little more than styling. It is design in the service of product lust, rather than user experience.

In truth, the handset makers aren't entirely to blame for the poor customer experience so typical of the mobile-phone industry. Not only do the carriers control the buying experience (something Nokia is trying to change, see BusinessWeek.com, 6/28/06, "Nokia's Ritzy Flagship in Chicago"), the services, the network that determines the speed and kind of services that can be delivered, and the customer service, they also flex their muscle when it comes to the handset. By the time the handset makers and the carriers have fought out the fine points of a design that will work with the network, and the services that will drive revenue, the user's needs have long been forgotten.

Ready for a Friendly Phone

Now Apple must join with one of those very carriers, and its choice, Cingular, has already proven somewhat controversial with customers unimpressed with its existing service. And while Apple undoubtedly retains the upper hand, the partnership requires Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs to loosen his famously tight grip. Apple won't have the end-to-end control it has with the iPod, and when the iPhone goes on sale in June, consumers will still have to contend with the typical cell-phone experience: the unappealing store, the confusing plan options, the two-year contract, the less-than-stellar customer service.

But intuitive UI (user interface) and consumer-focused design is something that Apple does know all about—and seems to have retained control over. The navigation system of its iPod was both radical and defiantly simple—and it is with this same philosophy in mind that Apple has mounted its charge on the cell-phone industry. For some, it hasn't come a moment too soon.

"Finally we have what appears to be a cell phone designed for ordinary human beings, not just for children with incredibly thin fingers, brains of scientists, and better than 20-20 vision," says London-based designer Malcolm Garrett, creative director at the Applied Information Group. "Able to build on its proven strengths, Apple has taken the route of adding mobility and connectivity to an established and thoroughly considered operating system to give us a phone, Web browser, and media player that works well for each function."

Mac Operating System

"The clever, context-based navigational system cuts out irrelevant choices and provides the intelligent and gratifying user experience we have come to expect from Apple," agrees Jakob Trollbäck, creative director of New York-based design agency Trollbäck + Co. "By eliminating intermediary input devices such as keyboard or stylus, control has become tactile again. My Blackberry Pearl has 29 keys and you need to use complicated sequences involving modifier keys to do just about anything. Getting rid of them all in one swipe, the iPhone has an interface that is digital in every sense of the word."