Let the war begin.. -August 18th

By Magnus Ingelsten

In the UK TV series Robot Wars, a competition between amateur teams building mechanical war robots equipped with hack axes, chain saws and powered by fierce electric motors, that are aiming to destroy or at least be the last of the fighting robots to survive the competition. And at every start of a battle the show host exclaims “Let the war begin!”
Now, can we draw a parallel between the little green robot (read Android) and the rest of the pack and the Robot Wars show? Is there a fierce competition and someone will eventually stand alone on the top, or will we see a fragmented market both in terms of segments, device types and OS adapted to different needs and industry segments?
If we embrace a variation of OS:s, is it good for competition and does it speed up the development pace?

I vote for that choice is good! And I dare say that the end-user do not care.? They care about choice. And to chose a device with no limitations and a lot of possibilities and freedom. Open is good! And they care about the total package with look, feel and a brand that deliver.

Because it is in line with the experience with other consumer goods My TV set, HiFi (do these exist anymore..?) TV surround equipment, washing machines, cars, GPS etc. Do we care what OS they run? I´d say not really. How about computers and e-readers and slates? It still comes down to possibilities and limitations. What can you do or not do.

My friend bough a new Android device the other day and we compared our two Android phones of different brands. He hated his device, and I loved mine. Technical differences? Not really. More features? Not really. Nicer device? Not really. But performance? Not really.... So what? Execution is the answer. One device lost usability and simplicity so the user experience got lost. He felt limited and without the right possibilities. It was all about expectations.

So, select the right OS for an implementation dependent on the user expectations. Ensure that the execution correspond to required possibilities and not limit them and correspond to expectations. Ensure the (user) experience is maximized to manage and address the use cases and features as logical and simple relevant for the user group.

-Expectations, Execution and Experience. Are these the 3 E´s for success?
What are your thoughts? (comments are welcome)