What do consumers want in a mobile phone experience?

When Qualcomm launched a device to accompany its mobile television programming, it was FLO TV Personal Television, "a 3.5-inch touch screen allows users to surf through channels with the swipe of a finger."

This was because:

• Consumers want to swipe their fingers.
• Consumers want a touch screen.

When Nokia released the N95 phone, they included a 5 megapixel camera with precision optics.Keith Nowak, Nokia spokesman, said the N95, which also has 30 frame-per-second video capabilities, is one of the "tech leadership" phones in the company's lineup.

• Consumers with technical curiosity want best-in-class technology beyond the core and into extended functionality, such as the camera.
• Consumers are visual and want video, including movies, advertising, and games to look stunning. This hasn't yet been achieved, however, there are standouts such as videos from corporate news organizations.

When Ericsson, together with Ovum, published a report on what consumers really want they determined, "from a user perspective, the requirements of new services must be straightforward: seamless access to all their content and services from the device of their choice. And users expect business models to be easy to understand, transparent, fair."  Additionally, Ericsson espouses, “the preference for ownership versus access to - affects the uptake of new services within certain generational segments."

• Consumers want similar content activation experiences no matter the device. If a consumer does B, C, and D on Device 1, the consumer wants to do B, C, and D on Device 2.
• Consumers want the companies behind their devices and applications to have transparent operations.
• Depending on their age, consumers may prefer to own their content, i.e. they prefer downloadable applications over web-enabled applications.

Recently, J.D. Power & Associates released three studies on smart phones, feature phones, and business phones.  The studies provided the following insight on usage patterns:

• Smart phone consumers want wi-fi in their next handset, as well as touch-screen capabilities and GPS.
• Business smart phone consumers of want more downloadable games, travel apps such as maps and weather, and business utilities to increase productivity. 

According to recent research by TNS, the following attributes are critical:

• Consumers want two days of battery life during active use.

• Consumers want high-resolution camera and video camera.
• Consumers want full versions of Microsoft Office applications.
• Consumers want 20 gigabytes of memory.

What's my state of desire?

I carry two devices: a Blackberry and an iPhone. I use the Blackberry for email, reading TMZ and EOnline, MSNBC, and Weather.com. I use the iPhone for Facebook, taking photos, location-based augmented reality apps, and reading Entertainment Weekly for Lost coverage. Occasionally, I'll play BrickBreaker on the Blackberry. (Why can’t RIM provide a new game?) On the iPhone, I like 3D and augmented reality games. I'm big on QR codes and welcome marketplace adoption.

If I could build my ultimate phone it would have a Nokia N95 level of camera at 5.0 megapixels, a touch screen like the iPhone, the hardware for QWERTY key board licensed from RIM, a decent speaker phone, an OS that multi-tasks like those devices from Palm, a slim device like the iPhone, a battery life achievement as those phones from Samsung, speed that bests iPhone 3GS, an application player that's ½ RIM and ½ Apple developed, an unbreakable crystal screen, and a cool battery.   Finally, I want it all to run over CDMA 4G networks. 

What is your wireless wish list?