Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic – Arthur C. Clarke
CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY
HIGH TECH: THE NEW FRONTIER
Once viewed as the exclusive sandbox for young, male geeks and office workers, the technology category has exploded to engage consumers across most demographic and life-stage segments. We were fortunate to start working in the field in the mid-90s and to have participated in the process ever since. Here are some examples of our work in this category…
Design & Usability
- New product concept assessments.
- Feature selection and feature set optimization studies.
- Prototype design assessments – North America, Europe & Asia.
- Usability studies: hardware prototypes, consumer software, websites.
Target Identification
- Proprietary panel studies of specific user groups.
- Development of behavioral profiles to identify targets for new product concepts.
New Product Development We have been involved in multiple clean sheet design exercises for a well-known consumer technology company. In addition to generating several successful new products, these efforts produced two of our unique qualitative techniques for new product development:
- Qualitative Product Feature Optimization – a structured interviewing technique that is particularly helpful for “clean sheet” design exercises.
- Qualitative Revealed Attribute Importance – a structured interviewing technique that identifies the product attributes and design features most likely to drive preference in a maturing subcategory.
Example Clients
- Hewlett-Packard New product concept explorations; target identification & profiling analyses; new product development; prototype assessments; user needs studies.
- Microsoft New product concept explorations; target identification & profiling analyses; package development for consumer software products; feature optimization studies; software & website usability studies; user tracking studies.
- US West/Qwest Cable & convergence studies; cable channel package studies; VOD assessment qualitative; online business listings exploration.
- Imation New product concept explorations.