Pakablog!

It’s amazing how many ‘half baked’ products you come across in China. I often wonder whether this just comes down to bad communication, downright stupidity, over-inflated ego’s, or the determination to be pretentious and give out a good impression – but fail to deliver. Or perhaps it’s all of the above.

Case in point: note the following series of screenshots (apologies for the bad quality). This series exemplifies the three-step payment process at the automated machines available in most China Mobile outlets in China. Through these machines you can pay your bill using bank card, without need to queue.

Tap “payment” to proceed with the payment.

Never mind the announcement that the ‘receipt printer works’ (though it’s nice to know) – note the “Credit Card” option. Tap here to select credit card payment method.

- and of course, finally an announcement that this feature is not yet supported. Which begs the question “why the hell is there a choice in the first place?”.

This example is not unique : many online payment gateways will “accept” credit card, only to disappoint later with a notice that the feature is not yet implemented. Similarly, we recently came across an option for “online submission” on our local tax receipt reporting form (地税发票审报) that we must regularly update with the government. Upon submitting the form (in person) we are told that there is no online submission yet.

If you take the express train to Tianjin and purchase your ticket at the aptly named TVM (Ticket Vending Machine), you are again given an option to pay with card (incl. bank card) – but none of those are currently supported.

When will China learn the importance of easy user interface and user experience vs. creating a false image of offerings it cannot fulfill? I suspect a lot of hairs can be saved if developers and system designers can finally come out of their bubbles and realise the time and frustration that can be prevented if something were designed properly.

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More on China’s (questionable) media freedom during the Olympic period – BBC’s Panorama have aired a program a couple of weeks ago titled “China’s Olympic Promise“, presented by John Sweeney and showing that media openness is still somewhat lacking despite the assurances of the central government. Yet again, this instead merely portrays the authorities making complete twits out of themselves, in particular the young minder who surely should be doing something more useful to society like driving a bus. Panorama will air again on BBC World this weekend.

On other news, ITN’s John Ray is bundled into a police van for merely doing his job and reporting protests – something he is entitled to do under the new rules stipulating press freedom. Clearly the police did not get the memo, and instead were being typically intrusive – yet another embarrassing scene for international television. But did it stop us from seeing the protests? No.

As for the local media? Obviously there has not been much change there, with the news being as orchestrated as ever during the Olympics period. Change is taking pace, slowly, but so far it doesn’t look like the Olympics has had much immediate impact on the local media.

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