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    HomeMobile EuropeUse the UI to raise data service take rates

    Use the UI to raise data service take rates

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    In the mobile world user experience is king. But the unfortunate reality is that the current user experience on mobile devices is painfully inadequate. Service providers, content developers, operators and mobile users alike put a great user experience at the top of their mobile wish list, but major hurdles still exist in delivering this experience that the industry has to overcome.

    The biggest problem, by far, is that the mobile experience does not scale. Once an experience is built for a given device using current technologies, it is very difficult to change. Consider that some 800 million total devices will flood the global market this year alone. Each model has its own technical specifications, including processor speed, available memory, screen size and resolution, all of which require customisation of the user experience. Then, for any given device, consider all of the languages that it may need to support and all of the services that it may or may not enable. Then there is personalisation, which is already so difficult that many mobile phones currently available will only let users change superficial aspects, such as the background wallpaper and ring tone.

    While scaling the experience to accommodate different devices, services and users is a technical issue, the largest impact is on the user experience. Due to the difficulty involved in changing the user interface (UI) on a given device, most UIs are designed to work across the broadest range of users. Whether you are an expert user or a beginner, a professional or a college student, the experience is always the same.

    So far, we have only considered the device. On the development side, the problem of scale is even more magnified. While the mobile industry continues to take off, there is hardly a platform available that is built specifically with mobile in mind. Few technologies offer tools for creative development, testing and deploying on countless devices.

    Then there’s the user experience paradigm itself. As more and more mobile devices support data services like WAP browsing, the paradigm implemented is taken from the web. The desktop experience that many are trying to recreate for mobile devices is the wrong model for this environment for several key reasons.

    Click and Wonder

    The page-based model of websites that WAP uses requires users to visit the web to find services, click and then wait for the new content to be delivered to you. This may be fine on the desktop where we expect to have an experience that lasts several minutes, but on a phone we expect instant results and are more aware of cost implications of delays. One solution is to push content onto the phone before a user requests it so that it is immediately accessible.

    I Want My MTV

    currently within the student demographic, around 18 to 25 years old. These users think about their phones very differently from their desktop computers. Studies show that the youth market sees its computer as a place for work and research, while the phone is a place for socialising and entertainment. They are not typically looking for powerful data tools like they might from today’s rich internet applications. They are looking for services that are fun, useful and entertaining.

    Of Mice and Mobile

    It is easy to overlook that mobile UIs are a largely linear experience. On the desktop we have a mouse and can click anywhere we want. Yet on mobile devices, we typically rely on a five-way joystick or the button-pad for input. This means that in order to get from option A to option C, the user has to navigate via option B to get there. Successful mobile experiences need to look at the form of the device they reside on and focus on creating efficient, intuitive interactions.

    Can You Hear Me Now?

    Mobile experiences have a lot of competition from the outside world. We use our phones anywhere and everywhere. Whereas the desktop experience is largely relegated to, well, the desktop. Phones have to compete with noise from the likes of traffic and crowds and have the tiniest of screens to do it with. Mobile experiences need to anticipate this and work much harder to keep the attention of their audience.

    Designers and developers of mobile content and devices are spending a great deal of time and money focusing on these issues, and for good reason — the mobile experience is an exciting new platform and user experience matters. Mobile applications will drive much stronger adoption when the applications are compelling, easy to use and offering simple navigation. With these key components, users will be drawn in and realise the true wealth of information and advantages of the mobile experience.

    Josh Ulm, Principal Designer/Developer, Macromedia XD Team

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