much prefers ‘design research’ to describe his job.
If you want to get a more accurate insight in Jan’s job, findings and views on mobile phones then pop over to the New Scientist website. Jason Palmer managed to catch up with Jan in Japan, where he currently lives works, and interviewed him for the website, revealing some very interesting in the process.
With the mobile handset at the centre of his research the obvious question is where the phone, on a basic level fits into our everyday lives. Jan’s take on it being a tool for survival is an interesting and, perhaps for some of us, surprising notion:
Jan’s recent research projects have centred on the emerging and rural markets around the globe and he believes a lot has been learnt from this mobile sector, especially understanding future trends. He expands
Interestingly, areas such as Uganda and Ghana also harboured an emergence of repair and customising sub cultures and money saving tricks born out of necessity.
Jan also points out that the results of his research, if at all, don’t come to fruition via the production line over night. Although there are, as he explains, some exceptions
“We did a study on phone sharing in Uganda and Indonesia, and within a year – which is really quick when you’re talking about hardware changes – we had two products out which support multiple address books, allowing people to share a device within a family or a company while giving them a degree of privacy.”
As you can see, Jan’s job takes him far and wide, experiencing varied cultures along the way but his work is clearly integral to Nokia’s handset development in different world markets. You can read the full New Scientist interview in full here.
What’s the biggest impact your device has had on your life?