BREW 2007’s User Experience Focus
by Nancy Broden
Debi Jones’ recent post highlights some of what was new at Qualcomm’s annual BREW conference which wrapped up in San Diego on Friday.
One aspect she didn’t mention was this year’s unprecedented focus on user experience, with panel and breakout sessions over all 3 days on everything from Understanding Users Through Contextual Inquiry to User Centered Design for Mobile Environments and Designing and Evaluating Mobile User Interfaces. Qualcomm also sponsored quick-hit 30-minute sessions where attendees had the opportunity for Q&A in a more informal environment.
The BREW Times, the show’s daily publication, provided a more in-depth look at several user experience related topics such as personalization, user generated content, the problem of feature discovery and mobile social networking, on which I spoke during a Friday afternoon breakout session.
The focus on user experience is not purely altruistic of course - there are high hopes in the industry that mobile social networking and user generated content will provide fresh sources of revenue. Nevertheless, it was clear from the questions I was asked at BREW that the conference is attracting a more diverse audience that is increasingly aware of the importance of a user centered approach to mobile interfaces and seeking out information to this end. This is a good thing for anyone who uses a mobile phone, which is to say, pretty much everyone.
