Here is a bit of the discussion that took place between Brett and Rob Bushway of GottaBeMobile:
Brett, thank you for the opportunity to talk about Dell’s Latitude XT. It has been four months since the release of the Latitude XT. How has the response been in your target market?
We’re really pleased with the response so far. Thankfully, the feedback has confirmed what we expected, that usabililty is really valued, whether it be in the form of small size/weight, bright panels and multiple input options - especially touch. We’re getting great tips on what is good and what needs work for next time - it’s a learning process and there’s lots to do as we want to improve, but at least we’re heairng that we’re off to a good start.
Talk to me about your usability research in designing the XT. What were customers telling your team about the features they wanted in a Tablet PC? What data were you seeing that led Dell to go in the direction that we now see in the XT?
We always involve customer feedback and research in the development of our products, but the creation of the XT was the most collaborative process I’ve been involved with. We spent almost two years developing the concept and bringing the tablet to market, and during that time we had the opportunity to run concepts by existing Dell customers, companies who were tablet buyers but not Dell customers, plus the usual focus group studies. I’d also point out that we had the pleasure of collaborating with key industry partners such as Microsoft, who provided great input on matching hardware capabilities with Vista tablet capabilities, especially with regards to touch.
I thoroughly enjoyed perusing this interview and if you would like to check out the rest of it yourself, you can do so via the GottaBeMobile website.
