Automated Phone Tech Support Growing

Make a cell phone as complicated and multitaskable as a PC, and soon users will be throwing up their hands in PC-like disgust. That's the upshot of a WSJ story noting the growing number of subscription services specializing in tech support and hand-holding for smartphone owners.

LogMeIn, which specializes in software that allows a remote technician to take over and (presumably) fix your PC, is working on a phone version. SNAPin Software tells you over the phone how to get your handset to do what you want. Says SNAPin's CEO:

The calls are getting more complex and taking longer. Customers basically have little PCs in their hands. Guiding them through [their problems] is a very compelling value proposition.

Self-Help for Cellphones [Wall Street Journal]