More Chinese Mobile UI Trends(dangrover.com)
dangrover.com
More Chinese Mobile UI Trends
http://dangrover.com/blog/2016/01/31/more-chinese-mobile-ui-trends.html
9 comments
> You post pictures of your Bugatti but you don't have that expensive black VIP badge? That's bad for your image.
I lived in Dubai for a year, and number plates were how the "rich" differentiated from the rich. Walking around the Marina, seeing supercars isn't anything special. A Porsche in Dubai is like a Toyota anywhere else.
Standard number plates have 5 digits, but you can get a 4 digit one starting from $10,000 and it goes up from there. A 2 digit plate will sell for a few a million, and 1 digit is reserved for those with plenty of cash and wasta.
Of course the girls are just as vain:
http://m.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/judg...
I lived in Dubai for a year, and number plates were how the "rich" differentiated from the rich. Walking around the Marina, seeing supercars isn't anything special. A Porsche in Dubai is like a Toyota anywhere else.
Standard number plates have 5 digits, but you can get a 4 digit one starting from $10,000 and it goes up from there. A 2 digit plate will sell for a few a million, and 1 digit is reserved for those with plenty of cash and wasta.
Of course the girls are just as vain:
http://m.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/judg...
It seems like for Twitter or Instagram to sell any other sort of status badge would cannibalize their primary status badge: follower count. If they made your number of followers less important than a $50 badge, it could be catastrophic for their growth metrics
Growth metrics don't matter nearly as much when you're making money hand over fist for changing some colors in your UI.
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I really don't want twitter/instagram/youtube to move in this direction, but I do think that your plan would work pretty dang well. :-(
Wanna start a badge company? /notsureifsarcasm
Wanna start a badge company? /notsureifsarcasm
I think badges only work if there is actual wealth/value behind them. No one will use them as true status symbols, rather just fun things, and they should be priced as such.
What I think twitter should do is act as a notary of sorts, and the badges would reflect real world accomplishments, like being graduated from a certain institution, membership in a professional group, etc. Something that gives your comments more weight. People/institutions would pay for this.
What I think twitter should do is act as a notary of sorts, and the badges would reflect real world accomplishments, like being graduated from a certain institution, membership in a professional group, etc. Something that gives your comments more weight. People/institutions would pay for this.
Huh, yeah. Notarizing personal stats, that's something. I wonder if Linkedin has thought about doing this. Is there a good way to authentic people's college degrees en masse?
edit//: Found this: http://nscverifications.org/welcome-to-verification-services... but obviously it would be working in the reverse--- as a job candidate I would shell out 20 bucks to have a shiny badge of my education institute and my certificates.
edit//: Found this: http://nscverifications.org/welcome-to-verification-services... but obviously it would be working in the reverse--- as a job candidate I would shell out 20 bucks to have a shiny badge of my education institute and my certificates.
I'm beginning to think, that in order to make big money in this American economy, we need to think like the masses?
Maybe take that old IBM laptop in the closet, and repeatedly bang it over your head. More than three hard times. Really--Really hard! Enough to cause some physical damage.
Then build something like that Kardashian app?
I was shocked to find out people spend money buying clothes for her digital likeness? It makes the Pet Rock look like a conservative investment?
(I don't know much about the app, but maybe we are overthinking what people will spend their money on?)
Maybe take that old IBM laptop in the closet, and repeatedly bang it over your head. More than three hard times. Really--Really hard! Enough to cause some physical damage.
Then build something like that Kardashian app?
I was shocked to find out people spend money buying clothes for her digital likeness? It makes the Pet Rock look like a conservative investment?
(I don't know much about the app, but maybe we are overthinking what people will spend their money on?)
Exactly what Steam is doing with its badger system
Have a look at reddit.com/r/bodybuilding and see how many Instagram pictures are posted there everyday. Especially stuff like bodybuilding or the female fitness models are all about status. Or search on Youtube for "Rich kids of instagram", all of them would buy status badges like that. Also the whole hypercar and car tuning scene on Instagram is all about status.
And if kids see the 500$ black VIP badge of their Instagram heros then they will most certainly invest 5$ or 10$ to get at least a low level badge.
And if kids see the 500$ black VIP badge of their Instagram heros then they will most certainly invest 5$ or 10$ to get at least a low level badge.
Sure. But the way people use Instagram and the way Instagram officially endorses using their product are two different things. If they internalized expensive badges I suspect it would damage their brand quite a lot.
Instead of using gamification strategies to boost use and interaction just sell the rewards straight up at huge markups..kind of genius.
Actually, you could take this even further and make it so only a set number of each VIP level are available at a time...and the prices are always going up.
Actually, you could take this even further and make it so only a set number of each VIP level are available at a time...and the prices are always going up.
> so only a set number of each VIP level are available at a time...
this reminds me of the rare and very valuable low-number license plates in Dubai and Abu-Dhabi.
this reminds me of the rare and very valuable low-number license plates in Dubai and Abu-Dhabi.
They've been doing that in Washington DC for years! [1]
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1984/08/17/effi...
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1984/08/17/effi...
I see a lot of scammy/Grey UI patterns here which remind me a lot of the early successful design patterns I saw in India in 2010-14.
In that situation, after "growth hacking" their way via scam UI and associated revenue in VAS services, carriers had to endure massive losses when a backlash forced government regulation.
I feel like the same thing is likely here, and a massive culling of the scammiest mobile UI trends will occur.
In that situation, after "growth hacking" their way via scam UI and associated revenue in VAS services, carriers had to endure massive losses when a backlash forced government regulation.
I feel like the same thing is likely here, and a massive culling of the scammiest mobile UI trends will occur.
Can you give some examples of these. Interested in reading more about this.
Good job Dan! This blog post not only touch upon the mobile UI, but also pretty much sums up the recent trends in mobile app product development and mobile payment trends too.
For readers who don't know Dan already, he's currently a product manager at Tencent's WeChat division [1].
[1]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dangrover
For readers who don't know Dan already, he's currently a product manager at Tencent's WeChat division [1].
[1]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dangrover
While some (if not most) of the practices sound laughable or downright (Nigerian-scam-ish) fraudulent by Silicon Valley standards, they are brutally effective at siphoning revenue from the huge rise of technically-illiterate new smartphone users in Mainland China, especially in the economically under-developed regions. (think Soviet-esque industrial towns, coal mines, etc.)
Another interesting practice covered by this article is the practice of not only blatantly copying features, but also deliberately naming them as synonyms (in the colloquial Chinese sense) to the original. In my experience most people never tell a difference. I would imagine such practice getting sued and/or bashed to death were it implemented in SV...
Another interesting practice covered by this article is the practice of not only blatantly copying features, but also deliberately naming them as synonyms (in the colloquial Chinese sense) to the original. In my experience most people never tell a difference. I would imagine such practice getting sued and/or bashed to death were it implemented in SV...
I don't really think I would enjoy using those apps more than the single-purpose sparse-content apps that are the norm in the US/EU market. However, I fail to see in which way those are more fraudulent or scam-ish than S.V. apps. About the only difference in that regard that I see on that list is that those apps integrate stores where you can buy stuff, in addition to ads trying to get you to buy stuff. Does the fact that the Ad link on the FB or Youtube app take you out of the app and into Amazon.com make it any more "legitimate", per se?
I do see some security implications with the whole "lots of custom browsers connecting to random open Wi-Fi hotspots", though.
I do see some security implications with the whole "lots of custom browsers connecting to random open Wi-Fi hotspots", though.
I'm surprised that the iPhone has any significant market share in China. I would expect Chinese users to prefer phones from Chinese brands running Chinese-developed ROMs (albeit based on Android, minus the Google proprietary bits). Is the iPhone's hardware design and/or iOS really that much better?
An iPhone 4 bought refurbished, then used gingerly for 2-3 years is within reach for many. Seen plenty of waiters and taxi drivers using iOS. It's not like they're all getting maxed out 6 Pluses every year.
If anything, one's phone is used so much that it's a reasonable thing to spend money on, even if you skimp on paying for data plans and spend less on other things.
If anything, one's phone is used so much that it's a reasonable thing to spend money on, even if you skimp on paying for data plans and spend less on other things.
I think you might be underestimating the power foreign status products hold in China.
Chinese people go crazy for iPhones, when the 6 was released my friend had a trip scheduled to go back home to Shanghai for a few weeks, EVERY ONE of his friends asked him to bring them one (or more) unlocked iPhones, and they were happy to pay well over store price, as the iPhone got released a month late there.
He ended up bringing them only for his closest friends, as otherwise he would have been arrested at customs :)
He ended up bringing them only for his closest friends, as otherwise he would have been arrested at customs :)
The Chinese middle class are all about status. The iPhone is a status symbol.
It sort of sounds like the Chinese see an iPhone similar to how Americans see a BMW or Audi.
Chinese see cars (and handbags, and shoes) the same way as well.
China is a massive market for German car brands - they buy ~30% of Audis sold worldwide, ~25% of BMWs and ~18% of Mercs.
China is a massive market for German car brands - they buy ~30% of Audis sold worldwide, ~25% of BMWs and ~18% of Mercs.
Bear in mind that the iPhone is priced beyond the salary of most people. It is certainly a luxury item.
There is a substantial status aspect to it (your average Shanghai fashionista wouldn't be caught dead with a xiaomi), but Android UX still has a bad reputation even in China. The group I'm in of Beijing-based Chinese techies (I'm the only foreigner) are largely split 50-50 between iPhone and various Androids (and no WP even though the company is Microsoft). They aren't very fashion oriented (programmers, researchers).
Dan Grover, the author of this article, also was interviewed going over how a kid from Vermont ended up working in Guangzhou, China on WeChat.
https://soundcloud.com/wechatpodcast/interview-with-product-...
https://soundcloud.com/wechatpodcast/interview-with-product-...
LINE, the most famous chat app in Japan, has the Send button goes outside the keyboard.
Okay, Japan is now a western country.
Why do they make it so cluttered? Are there no design guidelines to follow as to create a more user friendly version?
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I still believe that this might be a revenue stream for stuff like Twitter or Instagram. Just offer "VIP Badges" of several ranks from 5 to 500$ dollar a year.
Especially on Instagram there are so many people flashing their riches so there would be an inherent competition of who can afford the most expensive VIP badges. You post pictures of your Bugatti but you don't have that expensive black VIP badge? That's bad for your image.
There are also tons of "fitness models" who try to earn their livings through Instagram and some sort of VIP badge would give them a lot more "street cred".
Just be sure that you don't turn this into a micropayment shitfest and do some clever marketing which appeals to the public appearance of those rich Youtuber and then suddenly everybody wants to be a VIP.