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Tobias Baer takes a consumer’s approach to mobile phones and offers a solution to simplify owning and operating this now ubiquitous device.

… every couple of weeks you would wake up to a software update;

… as a result, the sofa will have been moved to the kitchen, and the TV into the bathtub;

… the “toast” function of your toaster was discontinued, but it now can record movies;

… your living room has a new greenish colour scheme – yet plants sadly aren’t supported anymore;

… your door now mandates two-factor-authentication;

… your books were moIt’s also obviously in our interest that such software is regularly updated to fix bugs. Adding new functionalities already may often turn out to be a double-edged sword because the growing complexity may outweigh their usefulness. But arbitrarily changing the position of the delete button, the formatting, and other things without any overwhelming need?

I find two things rather stunning when it comes to software updates (and MS Windows is not any better here than mobile operating systems and individual apps):ved to the basement, but you now have a prominently displayed Kindle on the shelf that you can activate for a little monthly fee;

… the new content filtering policy blocks any visitors wearing flip-flops;

… and your toilet got a bit buggy – if that happens, please uninstall it, reinstall it, and try registering your business with a different email address.

Has it ever struck you to what extent your mobile phone is controlled by other people? Legally, you obviously never have bought the software that runs your phone and that is responsible for the countless changes brought upon you by incessant updates; you have licensed it, and you could not have done so without accepting a license agreement allowing its manufacturer almost any perceivable mischief being inflicted on your phone. The problem is that you didn’t have much choice – unless you’re an IT wizard, you essentially can’t operate a phone these days without some version of iOS or Android, and you definitely can’t live your life for longer than a couple of minutes without a smartphone – just try switching on those smart lights!

Key points include:

• The smart lifestyle

• Developer arrogance

• Costly updates

Read the full article, If IKEA was a mobile phone…, on LinkedIn.