i want to

Problems with the existing paradigm

• The existing paradigm is based on multiplicity of apps. There are apps for one-time events. And there are multiple apps that perform the same action
• Many apps make money , by violating privacy and collecting huge amounts of personal data
• Apps also exploit mobile interface behaviour and walled gardens to make comparing competing services almost impossible
• Apps are not user goal driven

How apps are not user goal driven

Today apps are service providers who compete with each other to offer you a service. This competition and its effects can be seen in the following example where a user has to book a cab from place a to place b :

1. Decide which app they want to use to book a cab, mentally comparing their past experiences and possible discounts and offers available
2. Then open the app they decided on to check to see if cabs are available near their location and check both price and how long a cab will take to get to the location
3. If the user finds themselves happy with the booking mentioned / fell too lazy to look for another cab they book the cab or else continue to 4
4. Open alternative app again, check to see if cabs are available near their location and check both price and time required for the cab to arrive at the location for pick up.
5. Mentally compare the two options and evaluate if the alternative is better
6. If it is better try booking a cab, else go back to previous app and hope nothing has changed (No sudden surge pricing, cab still available etc.)

As you can see a simple thing as booking a cab can be complicated, the above algorithm is only for two apps, imagine how bad it would get if a third cab operator started service in your city. Users have only two options, one, to always use their default provider, or two, jump through multiple hoops and mentally juggle various aspects before getting yourself the best/ most convenient service.

The only truly goal driven solutions available to users available today are travel portals and their aggregators. They seem to work from the base up because there are too many service providers at all stages of travel. Similar approaches for web-based product sale aggregators have failed to get similar traction.

Also travel aggregators now act as walled gardens and comparing between them goes back to the same problems

The solution : What it should deliver

When we first thought of our proposed solution, these are the aspects we believed the interface should incorporate.

• Empowered user / user centric: The user interface should always be driven by the user and what he/she wants to do. Enabling the user to painlessly evaluate and choose his options.
• Privacy respecting / ad free: The users need for privacy should be respected and the interface should be as ad-free as possible.
• Abstracted Simplicity: The interface should be able to switch to a relatively abstracted autonomous mode that makes it easier for the user to use. The autonomy is still user driven in that the user can decide what factors to use when coming to make a decision.
• Should be extensible: Service providers can add in customization if needed and when asked for
• Future looking: The interface should be forward looking allowing it to easily integrate with AI based assistants, decentralized web networks, blockchain based content and payment distribution systems.
• Protect content providers: The content providers are always paid, there is no free content and hence no ad-supported content.

An UI that allows the following, will need an ecosystem where the interaction between
content suppliers/service providers and users is slightly different. The ecosystem acts like a virtual auction house, letting content suppliers/service providers bid to serve you. As and when you request.

The ecosystem or mobile OS needs to be open source, so when needed service providers can contribute to the common platform and users, platform administrators and service providers contribute to the enhancement and maintenance of the platform.

The following user scenarios will depict how the proposed interface would work, thereby revealing its nuances.

Proposed interface book a cab

1. User clicks the cab booking/ travel icon
2. User enters in origin and destination into the interface
3. The interface then creates an auction scenario with your travel details.
4. The various providers answer the auction call with the relevant details of the service they can provide like cost, cab availability, to this data the interface adds ratings (both global – everyone in the world , local – your feedback from previous experiences )
5. The user compares the various results from the auction and makes the best choice.

Compared to the cab booking process as it is today , it is easy to see the differences. If you want to just to just compare the steps between the two approaches, look at the following video

Content Consumption – Watching movies

This is how the interface would behave if the user was trying to watch a movie

1. User clicks the movie icon
2. Enter the movie name the user wants to watch
3. The user interface will conduct an auction with the providers, also it will check the user’s file system records. ( In case the user already has it, it will display where is it stored )
4. User chooses from the various providers
5. The provider is paid for the movie / content

Since no content is free and all content is paid for, there is no call for an ad based system. While this might be similar to existing subscription services in that the users pays for the content. It stops the user from being tied to a specific service. It brings in local content into the same interface.

Extending the interface to the News

This screen will be similar to the previously mentioned media exploration screen. It will be a screen with the various news providers and their articles displayed. Like everywhere else in the interface both global and local ratings will be present for each of the providers. User will also be able to search and filter through specific tags.

Since multiple sources on the same topic are shown, we believe the interface will cut down on both fake news and divisive echo chambers.

When the user clicks on an article, the content provider is paid a small amount. Then when half the article is read the content provider is paid, the content provider is paid again when the entire article is read. The distributed payment is put in place to reduce “click baity” ⁵ headlines and articles.

Since the user can filter the news, and every article is paid for. Local news reporting is also rewarded because the interface enhances both discoverability and payment. This should help stop the current decline in both balanced news and local news.

Interpersonal communciation in the new interface

1. The user opens the people tab.
2. The user then finds who he wants to talk to, and decides the medium.
3. If it’s text based the options of email, messenger, whatsapp etc. will appear
4. If it’s calling then both traditional phone networks and VOIP networks will be the options that appear
5. If it’s video calling then Internet based video call providers like skype, hangouts etc. will compete for the call.
6. Once the call is made the providers will be compensated as required

The advantage of such a system is the ease of use and the consolidation of various means of communication by person. So, all your messages to that person will be in one place no matter how they were transmitted. The user’s communications will be sorted by person instead of by app.

This will also make communications simpler and more intuitive because, the ratings, and the ability to choose This will also make communications simpler and more intuitive because, the ratings, and the ability to choose default, or choose in real time the best solution will always be open.

Future extensibility of the interface.

As the reader might realize in most scenarios the goal is stated upfront, then the minimally required data for that scenario is collected then a deliberation of how to do it is made. Which is very similar to the process of interactions that happens when one interacts with AI assistants like Siri, Alexa etc. So, such an approach is more intuitive both users and will form an easier springboard for the developers of the AI assistants⁵.

Also, as the locking in of content, service to portals or apps is broken. The system can be easily extended to networks that are distributed, where content flows peer to peer, but the content makers are always rewarded.

Critics might argue that the initial standardization might make differentiation between services harder and their uniqueness will be lost, but this can be slightly counteracted by Just in time loading of further screens by content providers once they are selected.

Also for repeated consumption of content, there can be providers who opt for a switch-over where after you pay so much, you own the media or become a subscriber.

By being app interface agnostic, and by collecting task data upfront , it opens up avenues of multimedia inputs , where a user takes a photo of something s/he wants to buy and then dictates his customization.

For example:

• User takes photo of a pair of pants
• Then tells the interface he wants the same pants in “dark blue”
• The shopping/clothes providers can feed up their understanding of the query, by showing up blue pants in a similar style
• User can decide which blue pant he wants to buy

Revenue generation from devices

Since the system we propose is predicated on nothing being free, one wonders about whether the system will be adopted as users are shown to prefer free/freemium models. The growth and development of cryptocurrencies has changed the context a bit.

Even before cryptocurrencies arrived on the scene, there have always been ways of sharing processing power to perform bigger calculations. You could donate processing cycles for scientific endeavours ¹⁴. The mining of bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies converted processing cycles and electricity into items of actual monetary value. While this was used by some malicious parties to use browser based or malware based tools to surreptitiously generate revenue for themselves¹⁶.

A system that uses downtime of devices to generate cryptocurrency seems to be a win-win solution. The downtimes like when the devices are charging overnight can be used to generate value that can be used to pay for content the next day.

Even older/ defective devices can be put into use to mine for value. Thereby increasing the lifecycle value of devices. Because they can be used for longer and even if parts like the screen, camera etc are damaged¹⁵.

For those users who are hesitant to use this approach they can always directly pay for content.

Content/ Service provider benefits

The proposed solution provides a level playing field to content/service providers as it does not depend on installed apps. A small local cab operator who runs 3 cabs can compete with multinational behemoths like Uber, without having the overhead of app development or worrying about discoverability.

Since all content consumed is rewarded, content providers can be more certain of revenue and will not have to depend on third parties or ad networks for revenue.

Possible pitfalls and uncertainties

The proposed solution will have to overcome pitfalls and uncertainties like mass adoption by both users and service providers, ensuring system doesn’t get gamed etc.

It will also be a struggle to go against the inertia of the existing systems of apps, content providers and advertisement networks

Final Thoughts

By redesigning the interfaces of smart devices from the bottom up to be more goal oriented, We can make user interfaces more intuitive and future facing. While avoiding the various problems and pitfalls that currently plague the tech eco-system.