There is a clear trend in product design, especially in electronics design: in the last years we have been observing the raise of products that offer, additionally to the physical thing, a bunch of extra services connected to the computer and internet ecosystem. In this article I give you a few examples on this design trend.

Kodak cameras are not silly apparatuses

The sudden appearance of digital cameras made Kodak lost big amounts of money, from one day to the other a network of services around the picture development business was gone. So Kodak started thinking outside the camera again but this time in the digital world: they developed Easyshare, a software bundled to cameras that makes photo printing, storing and sharing easy. Easyshare is actually not just another software, it is the revival of that old good Kodak service. I find important the fact that Kodak is now the number one digital camera brand. 

The Kindle should be the new iPod

Let’s say it, the first Amazon Kindle was, judged from the physical point of view, a poorly designed device. So why it was such a success? Amazon did to Sony what also Apple did to Sony; they practically stole the market through the offering of something that is more than just a device; Amazon and Apple designed whole service ecosystems around the Kindle and iPod. Of course, Apple designed beautiful iPods and Amazon had to redesigned the way the Kindle hardware looked in order to make it more appealing and usable, but the new concept here is that physical design, software interface and service design are all very important.

Nokia makes the best cell phones

Any doubt about the previous statement? Well, technically, it is true. I still remember using my Nokia smartphone and being able to connect everywhere and getting a fantastic speaking quality; physically, Nokia telephones are great. But Nokia was in the past not able to successfully design a proper ecosystem around those smartphones, I still remember how complicated loading music or installing applications on the phone was… Oh, and I won’t forget that time when I did an update of the phone’s OS and all my information was deleted.

Connecting to the environment could add glamor to a brand: Fiat

Fiat’s eco:Drive connects cars to computers offering customers the possibility of checking how they drive and offering customized advice on how to drive more efficiently to reduce emissions and save money. Plug the car to the computer to get extra services.

The connected patient

A highly probable success will be the connection of medical devices to systems outside the devices themselves. An example is the asthma inhaler designed by Cambridge Consultants that connects to an online personal health care application to send relevant health information to monitor progress and to make it available to the care specialist. A traditional "lonely" device like an inhaler is now connected to a bigger system to provide a better user experience.

Conclusion

At Design vs Art we believe that in the future devices will be even more connected, not only to the Internet but they should also start talking among them. In order to offer a better user experience and a better service, devices should start connecting and talking to the bigger system they belong to.