About 3 weeks ago, a strange rumor came up while I was browsing happily away. The news, that I first saw on an
HTC Wizard Blog came from this
piece published by Pocketinfo.nl. The rumor I found so disturbing was that the upcoming ROM releases we had so anxiously been waiting for would be missing an important piece - the A2DP profile that many of us longed for. Sure, Push Email was still there (our main desire), but for those of us who have owned bluetooth stereo headsets for quite some time without support to pair them directly with our Pocket PCs, this was almost as anticipated as instant email. At the time, we (the editorial team) debated posting on it, but came to the consensus that it was a rumor we didn't put much faith in. After all, a leaked QTek ROM had already been released with A2DP, and A2DP was released by Microsoft in AKU 2 late last year. So we took a pass on it, however I vowed that if the ROM was missing parts, I would unleash a rant of biblical proportions onto our homepage. So here we go…
Releasing a ROM image without A2DP to a user community anxious to get that feature without communication regarding the delay and eventual release time-frame is in extremely poor taste on the part of the OEM. OEMs, by engaging in this activity, risk alienating power users, the very users that rush to buy each new release and actively support the devices in forums and application development.So what should OEMs have done? Read on…
There were many factors contributing to the whole AKU 2 confusion and subsequent delays. Rumors of memory leaks, insufficient testing time, and other factors flew around the internet and still do concerning manufacturers that do not have a clear AKU 2 upgrade policy or statement. Let’s deal with a few issues:
1. OEMs maintain that AKU 2’s code ran poorly on their devices and required updating by Microsoft to fill memory leaks If this is true, it wouldn’t surprise me. Microsoft probably does not have the time to thoroughly test code on every possible device with every OEM-specific piece of software. As we’ve seen, many OEMs prefer to bundle applications they license or create with their ROM images, and expecting Microsoft to have access to all of those pieces of software is unreasonable. However, in this circumstance, where power users were tipped off by Microsoft itself about the shipping of AKU 2 through
Jason Langridge’s Weblog and the presence of at least one
device we knew that AKU 2 was nearing release. If OEMs were concerned about the way their value-added software ran on an AKU 2 ROM, perhaps they should have asked themselves this question:
Do our users want push email or do they want this application? . A quick look around the forums would have quickly answered it, and it would have confirmed that users were definitely interested moreso in Push Email than an antivirus client, and were almost just as interested in A2DP!
For what its worth, it has also been reported by many users of the leaked QTek ROM that their version of AKU 2, which includes A2DP, is not any buggier than any other ROM image – in fact, some report it to be more stable and efficient. While using leaked images is never a good idea in a production environment (not to mention that it is illegal), it does make us wonder: how much of a memory leak is there if power users using this software since early February aren’t noticing it – Wouldn’t they be the first to find the leaks due to their nature?
2. A2DP wasn’t ready yet – it was still too buggy to be used .
I get this argument – it makes good business sense to leave out pieces you are not confident in. The last thing OEMs want is to answer tech support emails / calls / posts regarding a feature they themselves don’t believe was ready for release. However, when dealing with power users, I believe there can be a best of both worlds: Simply disable the feature and let them enable it at their own risk. If OEMs would trust that their power users are smart enough about their devices to understand the concept of ‘beta’ software, they could even utilize that base of customers for testing purposes. While the power users of normal cell phones might not be interested in playing around with ‘nearly-ready’ features, we can easily infer that power users of Pocket PCs are. After all, this group is made up of dedicated hackers (used in the positive sense of the word) that try to get the most out of a device – not a bunch of kids eager to get new ringtones or MMS message junkies. If OEMs had allowed us to play with A2DP through a quick tweak or hidden setting, we could give feedback and real-world usage reports. By taking it out completely, they make more work for themselves in testing, and give us more delays.
3. What is so hard about open communication with end users?
As I said before, Windows Mobile power users are a fairly tech-savvy group. I am confident that if any of the big OEMs had posted a message on their tech support sites stating something like “The AKU 2 update has been postponed until approximately March 1 due to incompatibilities and “memory leaks” we have discovered while testing it. Check this page for updated status as we near release”, power users would have been grateful (We’d be even more grateful if they actually updated the message periodically as well!). When we don’t hear anything from the OEMs, we begin to become anxious, distrustful of official statements, and annoyed. Power users begin debating their next device purchase, and the OEM they currently buy from may lose business to another OEM with better communication.
In a special way, I believe i-Mate takes the cake for the most paradoxical support communication. When deciding to buy my newest generation of devices, I went with i-Mate because previous devices I had of theirs were supported nicely. ROM updates were frequent and communication flowed through their support forums. When I returned to the Club i-Mate site a year later, I found forums that had not been updated for new devices (Users there still debate where to post topics as they can’t find an appropriate board), and virtually no communication from their live support personnel regarding ROM releases other than obligatory “in the next few weeks” replies. But amazingly, they are the first to have an official AKU 2 ROM update out, so perhaps all hope is not lost. If ANYONE from i-Mate is reading this, I beg you – Update your forum layouts, communicate with users better, and do NOT alienate further a loyal user base that buys your devices!
4. The prevailing feeling from users that OEMs favor gaining new customers and not servicing the needs of existing customers
This is perhaps the most dangerous problem OEMs can face in this market. With some products, you can rest assured that once you have a customer, they will keep the product for a fairly long time ( > 1 year ) before making a purchase decision, our user group is different. Anyone who follows PPCT knows that our editors buy new devices and retire old ones approximately 1 – 2 times per year. Each time we do so, we decide which OEM we wish to buy from. OEMs that do not keep up their end of the bargain in the form of timely updates and communications do not get repeat business. Is it really sound business practice to get only 1 purchase out of a customer that could potentially buy many high-priced items from you?
Based on these 4 topics, I propose guidelines for both power users and OEMs that can make all of our lives easier…
My guidelines are:
1. OEMs should communicate with power users frequently and accurately
Even if it is just a page that’s updated weekly saying “We are still working on ROM x.x.x and hope to have it out <date>” with a nice “Updated <day close to today>” at the top. This lets users know approximately what is going on, and if delays are happening. This does not look ‘unprofessional’ OEMs – this looks responsible. Also, OEMs should be careful with stock answers provided to support technicians: We all are tiring of the stock “we expect ROM update within the next few weeks” reply.
2. OEMs should be mindful that Windows Mobile should mean the same for all devices
When I emailed our team about my post this morning, Jason emailed back a point I hadn’t considered but I believe is very important, namely – AKU 2 is known to possess A2DP, so if some manufacturers take that out, what does it do to Windows Mobile as a platform? Think about it – when shopping for a new Pocket PC, we take for granted that all WM 2003 SE devices have approximately the same look, feel, and features. We know that some applications need Windows Mobile 5, some need a different version. Power users with past experience know what OS they want and are confident in buying because they know that any device with that OS will have the same software feature set . If OEMs unbundled or remove components that other OEMs haven’t, this means that simply knowing the OS a device has gives no guarantee of that device’s capabilities. This is extremely bad for users, extremely bad for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Platform, and extremely bad judgment on the part of the OEM. If features must be hidden, communication should be key so the user knows that about a particular device before buying.
3. Users and Website Administrators / Editors should verify sources BEFORE posting rumors as fact
In the weeks leading up to Thursday’s AKU release by i-Mate, many web forums and at least one of the larger Pocket PC websites reported that they had a definite ROM release date from i-Mate. This information, supposedly leaked out through sources which ranged from semi-legitimate contacts in the company to mere hearsay, caused users to feverishly check websites and write annoyed posts. Undoubtedly, OEMs noticed this and felt strained to put an update out there. While unlikely, it is possible that i-Mate was testing their AKU 2 release, was held up at the A2DP profile and under pressure, released a ROM without it just to appease the community. While this seems to make people happy, it also buys i-Mate much more time to play with A2DP and delays our use of it even further. I’m all for posting rumors when they seem appropriate – but posting in an authoritative voice when your source may be ill-informed is dangerous for the community. Editors, contributors, and forum users should simply think about how confident they are in their information before they post it. After all, you wouldn’t post a technical tip or link to software if you weren’t reasonably sure it would benefit your peers or users!
Now I don’t expect my guidelines to be adopted universally, but if OEMs heed ANY of the advice, I believe they will provide a much better user experience for their customers and assure repeat sales in doing so. As a user community, we do not ask much other than honest and open communication. When OEMs start out in our area, they usually adhere to this request (e.g. i-Mate’s live support chat and forums). But once they begin to feel like a ‘big company’ they act like so many companies do and begin to give a very distant and aloof experience to their users. This attitude of “We’re the big company, we’ll tell you what you need and pick and choose features as we see fit” is extremely troubling and dangerous to our platform and existing devices!