Shore Consulting

October 28, 2011 • 11:32 am 0

Mobile market fragmentation and user satisfaction

We’re big fans of both the iOS and Android platform here at Shore and we can’t help wondering if there is going to be some big changes coming to Android devices after seeing this data over at The Understatement that shows how fragmented the Android market is. The lack of support beyond initial OS installs let alone trying to keep up with the updates seems to have overwhelmed some (read most) manufacturers and this in turn complicates app development.
Earlier in the year we saw several surveys touting the satisfaction levels of iPhone owners. Though we think the numbers are probably better for Android right now with the latest devices than at the start of the year, this fragmentation and upgrade lag certainly can’t be helping if it keeps happening with the release of Ice Cream Sandwich and beyond.

Filed under: Shore News,

October 27, 2011 • 2:59 pm 0

What smartphones do we use at Shore?

We had an enlightening time at AndroidTO yesterday. With all this talk of mobile platforms, we thought we’d share the results of our informal office poll. Some of us are a little surprised that there weren’t more blackberry users.This graphic, and a couple of others, are also featured on our newly refreshed site (updated this week).

Filed under: Shore News,

October 12, 2011 • 2:20 pm 0

iOS 5 is here

Just to balance out our Android-based excitement (see previous post) – we’re also pretty excited about the release of iOS 5. There are a few cool new things for our developers to play with, the coolest being the location-based alerts features.

Filed under: Shore News,

October 12, 2011 • 1:59 pm 0

AndroidTO here we come

A couple of us will be heading to the AndroidTO mobile technology conference in a couple of weeks. We’ll be checking out both Developer and Professional streams and we’re pretty excited about it. Watch this space for updates.

Filed under: Shore News,

October 4, 2011 • 2:28 pm 0

Thoughts on Dashboard Design

The dashboard in an army jeep is as simple as possible. It displays only a handful of critical measurements to the driver – and the thing you most need to keep an eye on gets the biggest gauge. It’s a great of example of form following function, with the resulting aesthetic purely incidental. When we talk about project dashboards, it helps to remember that we’re using a metaphor and what the reference is really about.

In a car’s dashboard, there are two types of output: 1) real-time measurements of key indicators (usually just road speed, engine revs, fuel level, engine temp, and oil pressure); and 2)  alerts when key indicators reach warning points (low fuel, low oil pressure, high engine temp, etc.). With a quick glance, you can tell how fast you’re going and if any needles are in the red. If something critical happens, you may get a warning light or a buzzer to draw attention to it before smokes comes out of the hood or you run out of gas.

This is the point of the metaphor: the dashboard is an efficient way to tell you how your main metrics are doing and if there’s anything to worry about. If everything is green (or all the dials are in the safe range), then no need to read any further. If something is starting to go wrong, the dashboard should issue a warning and point you towards further detail.

It doesn’t give you any useless information, it doesn’t require a lot of additional analysis and, critically, everything is designed to be actionable.

Filed under: Margin Notes,

Who We Are

Shore is a technology and strategy consulting firm that delivers well-designed systems, and fresh, metric-driven strategic thinking. We have a strong eGovernment focus and are committed to helping government services connect to citizens and government agencies connect to each other.

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