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Mobile Today has a fascinating article about the rise in software faults as the trends of Smartphone and Touchscreen increase…interestingly, it is claimed that some customers ask the staff of retail outlets whether they think it’s better to wait for a while [for the device software to stabilise] before taking the plunge!
There is a view that the consumer has in fact become the “beta-tester” – a rather insidious trend (if it were true) that seems to have come over from PC software – where end-users have to install a growing amount of updates and fixes post-launch. Of course, you could look at it from the other side, and say that if software, operating system, or firmware code has 000,000′s of lines in it, then debugging to the point of readiness before launch is pretty unlikely.
From my time working at (and with) handset manufacturers, the development cycle (often 9 months to 2 years) is fraught with time spent debugging where (internal) software modules interlink and don’t work, or even worse, the (external) networking interaction with the handset isn’t working
Of course, one thing that does cause bugs to slip through the net is pressure – and pressure comes from launch dates – which are often tight, and occasionally impossible! If a competitor steals a march on your sales by getting the device out first, heads can and do roll. The result of all of this is handsets on the market that are not really finalised software. It’s not the case now that devices launch without showstopper bugs, just how many….
The dual trends of ‘smarter’ handsets, and certain key technologies within them (e.g. touchscreen), mean that the number of areas of interaction in new handsets is ridiculously complex; to the point where you have got to wonder if there is a hope of even the majority of faults being solved. Sometimes it doesn’t happen – there are certain famous handsets that are now past v30 of software, and you can ponder how much of that is tweaking or feature addition, and how much is bug-fixing.
A good final point that the Mobile Today article also makes is the fact that some new tech like touchscreens are slapped on top of old platforms – I can think of several great examples – and that just doesn’t really work. In fact using the same logic, the best touch implementation (Apple’s) was on a new platform built from the ground up.
Anyhow, I’m sure we’ll continue to see more and more and more devices coming out with not-quite-there software – and we are just going to have to suck it up that if you are an early adopter, you may well be doing some of the ‘testing’ for the network and the device vendors…..
[Original story via: Mobile Today]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
