iPhone + Pandora + FM Transmitter = Audible Joy

On the drive home Friday I had one of the moments of joy you rarely get when dealing with technology. You see, I'm something of a mobile luddite. Until last month, I stodgily refused to get a "smart" phone. I did actually try a couple (LG XV 6600 and a Blackberry [old one]), but unlike others who either really have to have that mobile data connection or really just love punishment, I decided that all I really need is for my phone to be a phone. I didn't even have a text plan, even though some of my friends liked to txt me and cost me money occasionally. :)

Well, I've been keeping my eye on the iPhone since it came out. I expected the hubbub to die out over time and to hear the "real" story of what it was like to have one. But everyone I talked to who had one said they love it--not just like it, but love it. Their faces literally brightened up when talking about it. Sure it has such and such an issue, but who cares!

I actually became more or less sold on it about six months or so ago--after the 3G came out, I waited again and talked to folks about it. And they were even happier. Unfortunately, like many I suppose, I was stuck in the last half of my two-year contract with Verizon, so I still had to wait. I was even going to give the Storm a chance, but Verizon blew that.

So anyways, I couldn't take it any longer. And since I had a good excuse (to be able to keep up with email during my 4th son's birth), I went ahead and signed up about a month early. I've been a proud iPhone owner (and proud father) ever since and continue to be very happy with it overall. But on Friday, I had a particularly delicious experience.

You see, I hadn't really yet taken advantage of it as a music player much. I listen to a lot of audio books in my truck, so the dearth of good music on the radio doesn't bug me usually. But Friday, I was in a mood, a mood for "Gold Digger" by a certain Mr. West. Those who don't know me well probably assume I only listen to classical or something (which I do, especially choral--like Orff), but I like a little System and some Luda when I'm feeling pumped up (or want to get that way). I customized by car stereos just as much as the next guy growing up. :)

So I grabbed my iPhone, tapped on Pandora (which is just amazing in itself!), typed in "gold dig," and it prompted me with auto complete. I picked it, and Pandora created a station for me based on that. Then I just plugged my Monster FM transmitter into the phone, tuned over to it, and blam, I was getting my fix of window-shaking bass (okay, not window-shaking; my truck stereo is factory...)! Within a few seconds, I trumped what people pay Sirius for, only better!

And then, as if that weren't enough, the wifey called, and Pandora automagically paused while I took the call with her coming over the speakers via the transmitter. After that, it was a seamless resume in Pandora. Wow. I was shocked it worked so smoothly.

And there's more! One thing that's not so great about music in the car is that you have to wait for a song to finish or just deal with not finishing it when you need to get out. Thanks to Pandora on the iPhone (with its built-in speakers), I was able to take my music with me. Only glitch was that it pauses when you unplug the line out, which would be a nifty feature if, say, it accidentally disconnected. I guess it would be hard for it to know accidental vs intentional disconnects, so I'll forgive it that one. ;)

So what did they do right?

The iPhone itself is emblematic of good service design--the kind of design that doesn't just look at making a great product (a an awesome device like the iPhone) but also at the entire experience summed up as a complete service--the wireless 3G service for good internet connectivity, the integrated iTunes store for expanding the audiovisual experience, and probably most importantly, the app store.

It reminds me of when I was a lad. The Nintendo had been popular for a while, and my mom was going to give us a game console for Christmas to replace our aged Atari 2600 (viva Asteroids!). I was sold on the Nintendo--had played Super Mario Brothers at friends' houses, Duck Hunt, Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!, and Zelda, among others. Great games! But my brother had done some research; he told me that technically, the Sega was a better game system. I still don't know if that was true, but he sure thought so! He finally convinced me, an unfortunate decision--the only decent game I remember on it is Double Dragon.

The point? Well, the point is that I think a thriving third party community is essential for the true success in any kind of platform-like service (game console, operating system, development framework, etc.). This has certainly been proven true with the iPhone as well. It wouldn't be as good as it is were it not for the thriving third-party community that has sprung up through their app store. Apple gets it and is actively marketing it ("there's an app for that"). You can have the best technology, the most technical functionality among your competitors, but if you don't successfully stimulate third parties, I think it will just wither and die.   

I guess it's sort of an extension of (a precursor to?) the whole crowdsourcing idea, though maybe under the more traditional capitalist banner. However you slice it, having a closed platform is a bad idea. Encouraging extension, adaptation, and participation is essential to surviving in the platform world. How that extends to other, less-platformy solutions will require thought; we shouldn't just add it because we can, but if the question comes up, should we make this X open or proprietary?, chances are that you should make it open.

And yet there seems to be more to it than that. You need to have some quality controls so the system doesn't get flooded with garbage. Having style guides is a good idea. Having a review and approval process to make sure the extensions conform may be a better idea. It depends, but if your success depends on overall high quality UX, then surely some quality control is warranted because it is unlikely that people will blame the particular extensions. When people get a blue screen in Windows, they don't blame device driver vendors--they blame Windows. I tend to think just having a review process will axe a lot of garbage that might otherwise surface--many people won't bother making and submitting stuff if they don't think it will fly.

On the other hand, the folks at Current.tv did a presentation last year at UX Week, and they advocate a publish then filter approach. If I recall correctly, they segregate the unfiltered stuff on a separate site and then have a dedicated site for the higher quality, filtered stuff. It's a good hybrid approach if you can get critical mass.

But I digress, I think the key things here are the quality of the phone device itself, the quality of the built-in services that compliment it, and a rich, quality controlled third-party ecosystem that extend the solution further than they could ever do on their own while not degrading the experience too much. Pandora works well in my scenario because all of these things are in place, and of course Pandora is just awesome on its own, making for a just darn good experience.