Helio needs to know their market...

Helio needs to know their market…

I’m going to be honest. When someone told me that they were going to bring South Korean cellular technology to the US, I got excited. My Cingular contract was month to month, my Nokia 6230 was looking old and drab even though it did everything I needed it to do, and my mouth was salivating over the thought of a snazzy, well designed phone that would let me embrace more gadgets than I ever needed to use (upcoming iPhone anyone?). I never like to buy something as soon as it comes out though; there are always bugs to fix and feedback to receive from the masses before it achieves real greatness (see iPod generation 57).

I waited for a few months and kept up with the company, who made their initial offering public during the first week of May, while I was at the World Conference on Information Technology. I wanted to give Helio my business so bad, I had a check waiting to be signed and mailed to get me on the bandwagon. That check has long since been voided.

The company’s innovations like 2 megapixel cameras, strong video and music capabilities (including full stereo speakers in the larger Hero model), MySpace integration, and large bright screen were marred by things like no Bluetooth support, buggy software, no ability to attach to a laptop for internet access, no full web browser, and last but not least the fact that it only works in the 800/1900 bands meaning you’re restricted to the US (see this website for a good explanation of cellular bands http://www.cellguru.net/1900.htm)

So you’re bringing me South Korean technology but forgetting Bluetooth, an industry standard connectivity feature, and the phone doesn’t work internationally, including Korea. LAME. The whole campaign and marketing of Helio was to bring hot new technology to the MySpace generation and help us tie in all of our videos, photos, music, and social networking (ala MySpace) addictions.

Who is the demographic for this model – kids, aged between 13-25. While many kids these days have computers, or even laptops, I don’t think it’s rational to think that these kids want to carry their computers with them everywhere they go – that’s why they bought this hot new phone remember? In an act of sheer bandwagonness, Helio has announced that it will now be offering a cellular card for laptops so that users can be connected to the Internet via a high-speed EV-DO connection*. I don’t know who came up with this but it’s nothing new, it doesn’t appeal to their marketing demographic, and it will probably not function as well as a Sprint, Cingular, Verizon, or T-Mobile offering. So Helio, what’s the point?

My advice:

• iron out the kinks in your software
• design the Hero so it’s as attractive as the Kickflip (their two current phones)
• fix your website so it’s not so buggy
• implement tri or quad band, Bluetooth, and a fully available Internet
  

And finally...

• remember your demographic and your mantra – beautiful high-tech phones for the MySpace generation!

* where available