Killer Mobile App? Making Phone Calls

Like everyone else, I hung on every word that Steve Jobs said during his keynote yesterday. He said a lot of important things, some of which will affect the way software is made and used in the future. And, being that he’s talking about reinventing the mobile phone, our social lives in and around mobile will change as a result.

However, I think the most important thing Steve said, and the one thing that is most important to the iPhone, is this:

“The killer app (on mobile phones) is making calls”.

This, to me, is the essence of design. Focus on the problem, often a single human activity, and with every decision you make acknowledge, push, and honor it. Add features, yes, but add them only as a peripheral, never to get in the way of, solving the single problem.

That, to me, is what sets Apple, and all great designers, apart.