iPhone mail
May 2008
Project Description
As the iPhone becomes popular, more and more of our existing WAP / Mobile Mail users are demanding a more powerful interface. At the beginning of 2008, AOL Mail took on the task of trying to convert our existing product into an iPhone friendly interface. In the first phase, we focuse on having the two of the three components - Mail and Contacts.Despite the power of the iPhone Safari browser, the iPhone is a product used "on the go". We needed to focus more on the reading experience rather than on the management experience. However, because of this power, users demand to have a more complete feature-set than other phone devices. It's always a challenge to find a balance between hiding and surfacing secondary features.
Contribution
There was no precedence for any iPhone friendly interface within AOL at the time, so I needed to define the look and feel as well as the fundamental user interaction, including the slide motion, form elements, and more. Throughout each development cycle, I worked closely with the developers to explore different interfaces and interaction paradigms. Promptly, I tweaked the design to create a powerful, functionally sound product within the given timeframe. The results from the usability testing, which I designed and coordinated, have been extremely encouraging. We launched the product in May 2008.
- iPhone Wireframe:
Learned
iPhone Mail is not just a skin. It's a product in itself. During the concept period, I wondered, "Why would people want a web version of AOL Mail when it can already be accessed through iPhone's native mail?" While exploring the answer to this, I realized, people depend heavily on their familiarity with products (language included) they already use. Also, AOL Webmail provided more features than the native products of the iPhone.
Highlights
- This was one of the most exciting projects in my AOL career. The iPhone UI was completely new to me when I first started. Furthermore, the technology itself was new!
- Out of all AOL initiatives for iPhone friendly products, AOL Mail is the first complete iPhone web application.
- I completed lots of exploration with my developers, and I applaud their efforts and desire to strive for excellence as much as I did.
- While on this project, I worked ~60 hrs during the first week of concepting (I would like to call this passion!) I was the caretaker for this product from beginning to end. And even though I have done lots of this in the past, this was definitely the most intensive. I have loved seeing this product go from nothing, to something noteworthy.
