Core77

The NYT magazine is set to run a lengthy feature about the work Jan Chipchase is doing for Nokia.

The premise of the work is simple - get to know your potential customers as well as possible before you make a product for them. But when those customers live, say, in a mud hut in Zambia or in a tin-roofed hutong dwelling in China, when you are trying - as Nokia and just about every one of its competitors is - to design a cellphone that will sell to essentially the only people left on earth who don't yet have one, which is to say people who are illiterate, making $4 per day or less and have no easy access to electricity, the challenges are considerable.

Only two days ago, Chipchase stopped in San Francisco (between London, Seattle, Tokyo or some such itinerary) and gave a talk (entitled Street Hacks) about some of his work, hosted by Adaptive Path. And today, The Economist has an photos+voice mail gizmo where Chipchase tells stories throughout his week.

While it's not all gold (and what is), both the work and the worker are fascinating and inspiring. And the exposure is nice to see. We're going to recommend his publicist to all our friends!