For Motorola scientists, nosiness can be a virtue

Crysta Metcalf has eavesdropped on the conversations of strangers, pored over their personal photographs and grilled them on their closest relationships.

[Gator_Chicago]

I think I just found another reason to short this stock. No offense to the anthropologists, but what in the world have they been doing for the last decade if the Motorola products don't seem to reflect anything mainstream (with the exception of one or two blockbuster products)?

I'm not sure, but I think this position is typically filled at other companies (i.e. Nokia, Samsung, etc...) by Marketers tat have strong cognitive science backgrounds (as opposed to social-evolution scientists)

What a mess this company is....

[Kumar]

Good point. This approach is failing at MOT. The whole darn company needs to be fixed.

[jon dante]

They are exactly where they belong.

[Terry]

"Motorola has employed social scientists like Metcalf for 15 years"

No wonder the BIG M has been in a downward spiral. It was probably C. Galvin who came up with the idea to steer the company according to social norms.

If "norms" generated sales, most of us would be rich. It's innovation and creativity that makes market share. Mot is basing production on history, not the future, and until it changes it will continue as a second rate telecommunications company.

[Deadwood]

It's difficlult to see what possible use Motorola will make of this data but that is the nature of doing raw research. What starts out as an electronic toy for the rich has a way of making its way down the food chain.

For a look at research from the bottom up, see this article in the NYT on Jan Chipcase, a "user anthropologist" working for Nokia. Nokia's aim is to sell phones to the 3 billion people on the planet who don't yet have them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13...