UI

Software is the new hardware: companies we would have never thought they’d be into software are releasing smartphone and tablet apps or even APIs so that developers can program against their platform:

• It looks like Nike is not releasing one piece of kit that is not in some way connected and full of software and web services. And obviously they have an API
• Philips releases smart light bulbs with an API so developers can program the next great disco light turning your house into an app
• In Switzerland the national railways recently released sbb.connect – a local services and game app similar to Foursquare for public transports
• Print publishers are releasing mobile app after tablet app and struggle to figure out what the world will look like in the post-newspaper era

So everyone and their dog is doing software, web services and mobile apps. What follows? Some of these apps are crap. Especially mobile and tablet apps from media companies are often buggy, slow, either totally under- or insanely over-featured and too complicated for the average user. The complexity-part is worsened by the fact that every app seems to have a different paradigm of navigating with swipes up, down, left, right and with buttons that bring you somewhere or nowhere.

How comes than that these products often are mediocre? One or all of the following reasons may apply – and probably many more:

• The app in question is created by an external agency on a fixed budget – sweating the details of a great user experience can often not be achieved in such a setup
• The product manager in charge is not technical enough or doesn’t have the user experience chops to deliver a great product
• The software engineers are not top notch. Ask yourself the following question: if you’re an engineer, what company would you join: Google, Facebook or any other cool kid on the startup block or a media company where technology is an afterthought?

So if in your business technology is still an afterthought, you need to change that or you will fall behind. You’ll probably need to build internal know how – either in technology or perhaps more importantly in how to manage tech. Your main challenge will probably be to attract top talent – they’ll have better places to go to.