“ Unlearn the past to create the future” C K Prahalad BoP (Bottom of the pyramid) – What kinds of mobile services could lurk there? Mobile Camp Brighton | Feb 28 th 2009 P.Prakash

Source: Wikipedia An Industrial Workers of the World poster (1911).

So what is Bottom of the Pyramid? In economics, the bottom of the pyramid is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group . In global terms, this is the four billion people who live on less than $2 per day, typically in developing countries. The phrase “bottom of the pyramid” is used in particular by people developing new models of doing business that deliberately target that demographic, often using new technology. This field is also often referred to as the "Base of the Pyramid" or just the "BoP". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottom_of_the_Pyramid

http://www.afrigadget.com/2009/02/02/a-ugandan-housewifes-homemade-mobile-phone-charger/

Rs1500= £20.547 (Image source : http://www.emergingfutureslab.com/prepaid_economy/)

Challenges/opportunity DESIGNING FROM USER’S POV DISCOVERY & MARKETING VALUE PROPOSITION “ GANDHIAN ENGINEERING” “ Doing More with Less for More by More and More People.” R A Mashelekar

DESIGNING FROM USER’S POV

DISCOVERY & MARKETING

VALUE PROPOSITION

“ GANDHIAN ENGINEERING” “ Doing More with Less for More by More and More People.” R A Mashelekar

Project Miljul: A Study in Wireless Service Design for Emerging Markets. Priya Prakash Circa: ETCON 2004 | SESSION: UNTETHERED

Believe it or not…but Hello!

Freelance photographer, 35 years, King Circle, Mumbai, April 2002

Some urban mobile workers might use their mobile phones as pagers also…

Roadside ribbon & safety pin seller, Mumbai, June 2002

Some of them use neighbouring shops as ‘ human’ voice mail boxes or…

College girls, 16 & 17 yrs, Mumbai, June 2002

Some from the younger generation believe that mobile phones impede on their personal freedom So what is...

A qualitative research project Done in April-June 2002 over four weeks To understand how urban Indian mobile workers view/consume mobile phones To use initial findings to analyse existing services as well as come up with some frameworks for future wireless services relevant to urban India. Miljul [Hindi]: Together Project Miljul?

A qualitative research project

Done in April-June 2002 over four weeks

To understand how urban Indian mobile workers view/consume mobile phones

To use initial findings to analyse existing services as well as come up with some frameworks for future wireless services

relevant to urban India.

Context? Seeking inspiration from people’s environments and daily street lives, to get an insight into their needs and desires...

When designing products/services that don’t yet exist , we need to understand people’s unarticulated needs ... observing people in their environment/context provides a rich source of insights of these needs. Rapid ethnography?

“ Deep hanging-out” This is based on the idea that the best way to absorb a culture is by being there and participating in daily activities. While traditional research tools like phone surveys and focus groups tell you what people say they are doing, they don't show you necessarily what they're actually doing. Ethnographic tools like deep hanging out help uncover the sometimes subtle differences between what people say they do and what they really do. Genevieve Bell , Anthropologist, Intel Research Labs Finding the “pain-points”: What’s hard? What are the frustrations? What is valuable? What makes a difference in their everyday lives? In a nutshell: Observing, sketching, interviewing, buying phones in grey market, online discussion forums

“ Deep hanging-out”

This is based on the idea that the best way to absorb a culture is by being there and participating in daily activities. While traditional research tools like phone surveys and focus groups tell you what people say they are doing, they don't show you necessarily what they're actually doing. Ethnographic tools like deep hanging out help uncover the sometimes subtle differences between what people say they do and what they really do. Genevieve Bell , Anthropologist, Intel Research Labs

Finding the “pain-points”:

What’s hard?

What are the frustrations?

What is valuable?

What makes a difference in their everyday lives?

In a nutshell: Observing, sketching, interviewing, buying phones in grey market, online discussion forums

What’s it like out there?

Some of those insights...

One of the key Indian telecom industry point of view...

Reliance Telecom visions: Vision 1: ‘Mobile Phone becomes a small computer’ Vision 2: ‘Network becomes a computer’ Vision3: ‘Non-PC users get connected. Everyone becomes more productive and interactive’ "What we are doing now is setting standards for investment in India. In terms of saying, 'Boss, if you need to come and really lure the Indian customer, you can't do this with a 1965 model Fiat' . We think we will force each of these multinationals, if they want to stay in the Indian market, to compete in the marketplace.” Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Telecom

Comparing audience context against Maslow’s hierarchy of needs...

School kids, 12-17 years, Holloway, North London, Nov 2003

Jamaican record shop dealer, 35yrs, Brixton, South London, Nov 2003

http://www.oxyweb.co.uk/blog/socialnetworkmapoftheworld.php

Other ICT projects underway in Asia

MIT Media Lab Asia’s research findings:

Simputer: What makes the Simputer unique ? *Portable and a mobile device *Sharable and affordable *Integrated Smart Card and Modem *Multi-lingual text-to-speech system *Imli makes illiteracy no longer a barrier to the use of IT *Images allow universal comprehension of IML content *Relies on non-proprietary software Cost: 150$ /100£

NIIT’s “Hole in the wall experiment”

http://netsquared.org/projectgallery/n2y4

Thank you [email_address] Questions?