February 2011
Featured in this insight: IT & telecommunications
Survey reveals UK and US consumers want less complex gadgets: A new survey carried out by Accenture has found that over half of both British and American consumers would prefer simpler gadgets that work better, instead of increasingly complex and unreliable devices.
The study of more than 2,000 consumers investigated the current opinions and frustrations with the performance of many electronic products in common use, such as mobile phones, computers, TVs, household appliances, digital cameras and GPS systems. It also looked into ideas for innovative, alternative solutions for home automation, energy consumption and transportation.
Global Managing Director of Accenture Embedded Software Services, Jean-Laurent Poitou, commented, “As consumers accumulate and rely on more devices to help manage their lives, they are becoming increasingly frustrated with devices that frequently crash or don’t work as well as expected... The ‘cool factor’ is no longer enough. Consumers, especially younger ones, seek simpler, more intelligent devices with just the right number of useful functionalities.”
The survey revealed that 53% of respondents would advise the engineers who design their devices to keep it simple and 43% said that engineers would be better off focusing on a limited number of useful functionalities rather than developing many they will never use.
The views collected suggest that many new technologies are moving faster than consumer enthusiasm.
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