Rapid development of information appliances: Future approaches for designers

This paper considers the particular development needs of information appliances (PDA's, mobile phones,...). It proposes an approach that provides designers the opportunity to not only design and develop future information appliances, but to take these proposals out to potential consumers and test their concepts. The challenge of information appliances development is discussed-rapid technological development that is so rapid, that at times it is simply not possible to get the right product to the right market in a form that consumers desire before it is superseded. Going beyond this, innovators need to uncover new opportunities by exploring peoples unmet and unarticulated needs. Ethnographic observational research supports this inquiry well.