Dark clouds already over Balmudaphone. The difficulty of "design mobile phones" seen in past KDDI failures

Balmudaphone

　The toaster perfectly bakes cheese toast. A fan that blows out a large, expansive wind. Balmuda Co., Ltd., which manufactures and sells products with high quality and design, has announced the smartphone "Balmudaphone". The author, a small business consultant, examines Balmudaphone and its impact on the company.

The concept was similar to Balmudaphone

　President and CEO Gen Terao said, "What we were aiming for was a stone that fell on the riverbed." It is an expression typical of President Terao, who likes poetry. There is a mobile phone with a concept very similar to this expression. This is "ishicoro," which was announced in 2002 by the "au Design project" (*). The concept is to "3D scan a palm-sized round stone picked up on a riverbed, split it in two, and turn it into a foldable mobile phone." * The au Design project is currently expanding its activities to cultural art experience proposals such as the "ARTS & CULTURE PROGRAM". This article only refers to feature phone/smartphone development (including successor project iida).

au Design project failed to shift to smartphones

From au website mobile phone morphology / Photography by Hidetoyo Sasaki

The au Design project has produced a number of famous models, including the "INFOBAR". Four of them are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. However, the shift from feature phones (= mobile phones/mobile phones) to smartphones "failed". Currently, we do not do product design. The author fears that Balmudaphone, which is similar to the au Design project, will be short-lived. I am also concerned that Balmudaphone may have a negative impact on all of Balmuda.

About "au Design project"

From left: INFOBAR/INFOBAR 2/INFOBAR C01/INFOBAR A01

The au Design project is a development project for a mobile phone that emphasizes design rather than performance. Started in 2001 by KDDI Corporation (KDDI) and Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company. The most famous is probably the "INFOBAR" released in 2003. At a time when foldable mobile phones were the mainstream, the straight-type "design mobile phone" became a hot topic. In the same year, it won the "Keitai of the Year 2003" (Keitai Watch, Impress Co., Ltd.). The aforementioned "ishicoro" is a concept model (not yet on sale) of the same project. "3D scanning a palm-sized round stone picked up on a riverbed, splitting it in two to make a foldable mobile phone" "Rectangular light that symbolizes information passes vaguely through, synchronizing with the sound of insects. Notify me of an incoming call." When I read this concept, I thought "I really want it!".

Page 1/5