Following the big success of the MiPhone M1 (3.52 Million sales volumes reported by Xiaomi), Xiaomi have just announced two new models - M2 and M1s. As a brand focusing on young consumers and enthusiasts, Xiaomi chose a very appropriate place, the 798 Factory in Beijing, which is the most famous art zone in China, to announce and introduce the new models. The choice could help Xiaomi to give consumers the association that MiPhone is artistic and design centric.

Xiaomi M2

Most famous for the outstanding user interface ‘MIUI’ and the best value for money in China, Xiaomi’s new models appear to maintain and consolidate these advantages. Compared to the M1, the new M1s comes with higher specs but at a lower price (1,499RMB), while the M2 comes with a new and fresh physical appearance, latest Jelly Bean based MIUI operating system and high specs while maintaining the same price (1,999RMB) of the original M1.

With the value for money reputation that has been built by M1 and the superior user experience brought by MIUI (see Smartphone Platform Benchmark: Meeting the Needs of Advanced Smartphone Users in China), Xiao has already gained a lot of consumers who aspired to buy a MiPhone. Xiaomi appears to have improved the product value of M2 by providing the latest operating system along with a quad core processor. The biggest pain points of the M1 were mostly reported as ‘lack of front camera’, ‘bad rear camera’, and ‘bad display’.  With its new models, Xiaomi has improved these features with a better camera lens and better display, which could persuade consumers who have concerns over these issues to consider the phone. Additionally, the M2 provides a larger battery capacity (2000mAh), and the option to choose an even larger battery capacity (3000mAh with 3mm thicker), which provides the opportunity for consumers to choose the trade-off between battery life and thickness themselves.

Many Chinese consumers complained about the hardware quality of the original MiPhone, and the changes that Xiaomi made for M2 and M1s should give users the feeling that they were actually heard – Xiaomi listened to their advice and made improvements accordingly. With the MIUI forum and the easy way to provide advice directly from the phone, current users will be pleased as they will feel they were involved in the development of the phone.

Strategy Analytics’ user research in China is available to Wireless Device Lab clients or for purchase here. Strategy Analytics’ China Handset Market Share report for Wireless Smartphone Strategies clients can be found here.

- Alvin Wu

Consumers find confidence in and prefer using operating systems that are trusted, well-known and innovative. Strategy Analytics' Wireless Device Lab recently conducted focus groups in the US, where consumers evaluated four of the top mobile operating systems in the industry – Android, Apple's iOS, BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone. Consumers prefer Android OS and Apple iOS, currently the top two OS in the mobile industry, due to both being well established, staying current with the consumers’ needs and wants in regards to features, services and applications offered, and providing quality and popular applications – an aspect consumers look for when purchasing a new device.

Consumers that prefer an easy to use and intuitive OS like a closed platform, similar to Apple iOS, finding the need to customize their devices relatively low. However, consumers who like the ability to customize their device, don’t mind a bit of complexity and prefer having the choice of numerous applications, find an open market OS, such as Android OS, more appealing.

Consumers are hesitant to switch mobile OS, with the majority mainly concerned with the burden of learning a new, unfamiliar OS as well as losing any data or content currently stored or downloaded to their device. In order to attract consumers to switching operating systems, it is imperative for operating systems to offer an easy transition from one to another to obtain new users. Consumers find services such as the Cloud, an easy and trusted way to transfer their content, as long as they are compatible and available with the mobile OS.

To view the full report, including an evaluation of all four mobile operating systems and how participants perceive each OS, strengths and weaknesses of each OS and consumer interest in the mobile OS across different devices, click here: Ecosystem Determines Consumer Attachment to Mobile Operating Systems (subscription required)

- Taryn Tulay

Although Microsoft is yet to release official sell-through figures for Windows Phone 7 devices, indications from the software vendor's OEM partners have suggested that uptake of the new OS has so far failed to meet expectations.

In an effort to understand why consumers appear to have not yet embraced WP7, Strategy Analytics undertook a qualitative survey of 158 smartphone owners and intenders in San Diego, CA. The research was conducted in the week ending 21st January 2011 with an equal number of consumers in four categories: owners of Android, iPhone, and Blackberry devices, and consumers who intend purchasing a smartphone within 60 days.

Respondents were asked how likely they would be to consider a device running each of the following operating systems if they were to purchase a new phone immediately.

• 85% of respondents said they would consider or strongly consider an iOS device
• 84% would consider or strongly consider an Android device
• But, only 51% would even consider a Windows Phone 7 device

We asked all respondents who said that they would not consider a WP7 device - or were unsure - to explain the reason for their answer in their own words. Post-survey analysis of their responses indicates that the main reason for this is a lack of awareness of the OS.

If reports that Microsoft have spent in excess of $500m promoting WP7 are accurate, the company will no doubt be disappointed to find that 1 in 4 of our respondents said that they had never heard of the OS, or felt that they did not know enough about it to consider purchasing a device running it.

The full list of reasons given by WP7 rejecters (and the number of respondents who mentioned each one) is as follows:

• Unfamiliar with it / Don't know enought about it (42 mentions)
• Prefer another OS / Prefer Mac products generally (11)
• Consider Windows Mobile products to be Difficult to Use (9)
• Consider Windows Mobile products to be Poor Quality/Unreliable (9)
• Not enough Apps / Fewer Apps than Competitors (3)
• Consider Windows Mobile software to be Outdated (2)

It is also interesting to note that 1 in 8 respondents have a negative perception of Windows Mobile products - either that they are 'difficult to use', 'buggy/slow/unreliable', or simply 'outdated'. Most of the individual comments suggest that this perception is based on personal experience of earlier versions of the software.

Our Wireless Device Lab will produce a full report on smartphone OS perceptions during 1Q 2011.

So another Mobile World Congress is over. In between running from meeting to meeting, I did manage to spend a bit of time looking around the show. If Mobile World Congress 2009 was all about touchscreens, 2010 was all about the end user.  The following are some of the main announcements from Barcelona that have the user experience at the forefront: Samsung Wave From the giant billboard on the bull ring for outside the Fira, to the massive crowded stand, it was hard to avoid the Samsung Wave. The stand had station after station highlighting different features of the Wave, from social networking to widgets. Advanced TouchWiz UI 3.0 allows the user to customize the menu, while the Super AMOLED display looked very sharp. This was particularly impressive when demonstrating the gaming experience the Wave offered. HTC Desire, Legend and HD Mini HTC announced 2 Android devices (Desire and Legend) and 1 Windows Mobile 6.5 device (HD Mini). All devices feature Sense UI, with an enhanced Sense on the Desire and Legend. Friend Stream gives users an even greater personalized experience, while Leap gives a great picture overview of applications currently open, similar to Windows Vista. Motorola Quench The Quench is Motorola’s first Android handset that is touchscreen only. The form factor is likely to appeal more in Europe than previous devices the Milestone and DEXT, especially to younger consumers, due to the ability to change the covers of the device. Quench also features MOTOBLUR, which Strategy Analytics believe will help to drive mobile social networking engagement. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini and X10 pro The Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro are both based on Android. The customizable UI allows access to four applications from the homescreen – one in each corner. This has been designed for one-handed use, with each corner icon easy to access. Timescape also allows users to surface relevant content from a multitude of applications. Windows Phone 7 Series While there were no phones available running Windows Phone 7 Series, the demonstrations drew in big crowds. Windows Phone simplifies the user experience by having 2 homescreens. One is customizable, offering high versatility, and deep levels of personalization, while the second screen is simple, listing applications in alphabetical order. In contrast to Android, Microsoft is aiming to standardize the user interface to improve control over the user experience – OEMs such as HTC will not be able to add in their own layer on top of Windows Phone 7. Sagem Puma Phone Sagem and Puma may not sound like the most obvious combination of brands, but they have combined well to make an impressive feature phone. The UI moves away from the out-dated grid menu structure, while the solar panel on the back means the user can charge the phone while on the go – though how effective that is remains to be seen. The device also features nice little touches, such as how many messages have been powered by the sun. The sports apps should appeal to innovative new segments. 2010 was the first Mobile World Congress where the user experience played a prominent role in all major device launches. Personalization and customization were key drivers, with handset vendors starting to realize that to successfully compete with Apple they need to provide an enhanced user experience around context, convergence and compelling experiences. - Paul