Sometimes the best user interface is no user interface

Tags: Design,  Product Ideas
May 4, 2006 by Barbara

We were recently discussing the best possible user experience for phones found in airplanes, both commercial and executive jets. Our first round of observations were standard device usability observations - the devices should work more like cellular or landline phones, and so forth.

We stepped out of the box a bit when we focused exclusively on phones in solely owned and timeshared executive jets. We assume that the standard user interaction involves pulling out a phone, waiting several seconds to be able to dial, dialing a phone number (from memory or from a second device), and talking. We're assuming that the account is tied to the device or airplane identification. AirCell, a major phone manufacturer, says they use Iridium, so account information is important for billing.

But would an executive ever do that? Would an executive ever bother learning a new phone system, or instead ask somebody else to dial for him? We believe the answer to be "no, not really".

So what should an executive phone look like? From a physical perspective, it is simply an old-style handpiece, allowing comfortable and private conversations, with integration into the cabin's sound system for conference calls. When the user picks up the phone, she is immediately connected to an on-ground concierge who can make calls as well as do other concierge services. This concierge could connect to various messaging systems, allowing the exec the best use of her time. For example, recording a voice sms rather than attempting to contact the recipient can increase efficiency. Ideally, the concierge has access to the executive's address book, but this is not strictly necessary.

This concierge service suggests that the entire system could be less expensively operated with some other type of ground-to-air radio system. After all, Iridium calls are quite expensive. The executive's time is even more expensive - otherwise, she wouldn't be on a private jet in the first place, making expensive calls.

Benefits of this system to the phone provider include increased usage of the phone. A jet timesharing company could bundle a number of customer support services into the concierge services, providing superb user experience and signficant differentiation.


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2 Comments

  1. In your example, there is still a user interface — a human-based interface, the concierge.

    “it is simply an old-style handpiece, allowing comfortable and private conversations, with integration into the cabin??s sound system for conference calls.”

    This a reflection of the phone’s usage pattern for this particular scenario – phone must be very good at voice, and other functions are not (as) important.

    ceo

    Comment by C. Enrique Ortiz — May 5, 2006 @ 7:22 am

  2. I completely agree, and the human-based interface is available in some surprising places. I have heard of a speech recognition “program” that allowed users to call the program, record something for transcription (email messages and the like), and get very accurate transcriptions and the correct action performed. It was magic!

    Of course, the Sri Lankans doing the transcriptions didn’t think it was magic. They thought it was a job.

    Comment by Barbara — May 5, 2006 @ 9:49 am

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