In the mobile industry, it might be said that functionality and usability are worlds apart. New applications go undiscovered in the face of traditional functionality: address book, direct calling, and SMS text messaging. Flawed UI designs force us to scroll, click, and type our way through a variety of menus to perform even the most basic actions. The interface is simply too complicated to encourage discovery of higher-level capabilities.

Alltel Wireless came to frog to counter this trend. The company envisioned a world of seamless connectivity between consumers and the information they want most, and tasked frog with generating viable new business concepts that would accomplish this goal.

To understand the values, needs, and aspirations of consumers in the mobile space, our analysts pored over Alltel user research and conducted in-store interviews with retail managers and customers alike. We then broadened our assessment to the trends at play within the industry. Newcomers to the mobile space indicated a growing emphasis on customization, user access to personal media and online data, and social networking capabilities. In each case, a trend that had begun in the online, PC ecosystem was making the jump to the mobile handset. We began looking more closely at digital content trends at large, considering how Web 2.0 concepts might be applied to the mobile space.

Just as desktop widgets had provided PC users with simple navigation in the face of expansive content, frog and Alltel set out to create a platform for widgets in the mobile space. The platform, "Celltop," would provide a shortcut to users' top content, from personal stocks to the SMS inbox, from local weather to the latest sports scores. Rather than forcing consumers to scroll menus, type search terms, and await connection, Celltop would bring this information to a user's screen with one touch.

Each Cell offers a half-screen column of graphics, text, and imagery – the color, order, and content of the Cells fully adjustable by the user. In order to provide the simplest possible access to vital information, the application stores a user's location and preferences, updating relevant Cells upon access. All screen types, layouts, nomenclature, fonts, and animations were designed and documented to provide high-fidelity graphics and clear, on-brand direction to the user. All controls and interaction patterns were developed to guarantee maximum usability, establishing consistency across Cells, regardless of the individual content.