"the mobile phone from gsm to umts: a changing paradigm"

“The mobile phone from GSM to UMTS:

A changing paradigm”

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The umts network

More bandwith more possibilities to provide new services but:

Are people ready to understand and consequently to use them?

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User-centredUser-centred approachapproach

Field checkField checkEvaluation (Laboratory)Evaluation (Laboratory)

Analisys of user Analisys of user demandsdemands

User centred planningUser centred planning

EmulationEmulation

SpecificationsSpecifications

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Service Lab: the test roomsService Lab: the test rooms

• Four test rooms:– Two residential premises– two business premises

• Show room for demos and Focus

Group

• Touchscreen to emulate terminals

• PC to emulate business services

• TV

• Slides projector

Features:

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The Service lab experience in designing new 3G services

Brainstorming and creative groups about the daily user needs that could be satisfied by new mobile services

Panel of creative consumers to collect information to design the services specification

Definition and emulation of terminal and services prototype

Usability evaluation to evaluate whit sample of potential customers the usability of the services

Concepts test to identify the service concepts with more appealing and to define user target profile

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Brainstorming and creative groups

Objetives:

• Individuation of known or latent needs of specific target groups • Individuation of new concept services

• To verify if different requirements come up from different target groups (residential vs. business)

• To collect information on the feature of the hypothetical terminal

6 groups in three different cities (Turin, Rome and Naples according the Nielsen geographical areas):• 25 – 55 years old• male / female• business vs. residential

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Creative groups: results

• A strong will to put together different equipments in only one (camera, organizer, videocamera, enhanced agenda …)

• Will to optimise the time spent: modifying the interaction with public offices, trying to solve the traffic problems, into cinemas /theatre….

• An high demand on security aspects: “global network but secure”

• An only one device to satisfy different context: free time and business needs

• Merging of different tools to pay in the mobile device: bancomat, credit card, money, …

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We collected 242 different ideas that have been grouped in the following categories:

RECEPTION/TRASMISSION IMMAGES AND VIDEOS

INTERACTION/MESSAGING

INFORMATION (push and pull)

PAYMENTS/PURCHASES

TELEWORKING

CONTROL

GAME/ENTERTAINMENT

ENHANCED PHONE SERVICES

Creative groups: arisen suggestions by the customers

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We contacted about 100 users by phone with medium/high education and defined technofan

Through phone contact we use an screening questionnaire to select 30 customers (about 50% male and 50% female) with knowledge

on new technologies and creative dowry

The 30 selected customer have been contacted all together to fill in two different tests:

Torrance Test of Creativity Thinking to evaluate the creativity Gordon Personal Profile Inventory (GPP-I) to evaluate the personal

profile according the characteristics: responsibility, authority, sociable ness, original thinking and personal relationship

At the end of this process we obtained a group of 14 customers that became the creative panel

Panel of creative consumers

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UMTS PROTOTYPE

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Usability test: Methodology

Each participant was invited to carry out the tasks prepared in the experimental setting according to the thinking aloud method

After every task the participant was invited to fill in a post-task questionnaire with the aim to collect precise information on the performed procedures (these information were elaborated with the observed information made by the experimenter)

At the end of the test the subject filled in a final questionnaire to investigate in general the prototype usability, the chosen navigation way, the prototype appealing, the learnability, ….

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Usability test: sample

16 clustomers Age: between 20 and 55 years

Skill: Mobile Phone usage skill,

PCs usage skill

(none, medium, high)

Internet navigation

(none, medium, high)

Usage and ownership of PDA and WAP devices

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Usability test: evaluated items

ErgonomicsDevices design

Dimensions of device and display

Comprehensibly of function keys

Usability Procedures to use the services

Navigation easiness

Speed of interaction with the stylus

Clarity and Learnability of graphical

and textual elements

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Usability test: results

In general the user opinion was very positive

The basic tasks of mobile phone (phone call, to send messages, the address book

management) were evaluated very simple and fast (even at first attempt and by unskilled users)

The procedures are easily learned even after a short interaction period and even in the

case of no presence of manual (for the test was provided only an one-page guide with the

principal functionalities correlated to keys)

The prototype obtained a medium score 8,3 over a 1 – 10 scale (1 = worst device, 10 =

best device) from the easiness and intuitiveness point of view

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Concept test: two steps

1°Definition concepts and commercial bundles for

3G services

2°Concepts evaluation with estimation on usage &

pricing for each service and in general among different target groups

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Students 14 – 18

Students 19 – 25

Travelling workers

Permanent workers

Students 14 – 18

Students 19 – 25

Travelling workers

Permanent workers

1° step: methodology

FOCUS GROUP

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1° step: devices class

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To enhance the audio-communication satisfying the pleasure of seeing the called people

To enhance the life quality reducing the queue,receiving information on traffic in real time, finding the nearest services (shops and not) or interesting areas

To enhance the messaging characteristic:• possibility to write longer messages• Vocal input to type message text (speech to text)• Attached files (audio, video, images,..)• …

Infotraffic/Maps

Service Finder

…

Videocall…

MMS…

1° step: arising needs

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LOCALIZATION CUSTOMIZATION

RESPONSE TIME UPDATING INFORMATION

Key elements desired for every concept/service categories

1° step: results

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Usefullness

Entertainment

Comfort

MMS

Servicefinder

Videocalls

Infotraffic/trails

Audiostreaming

Game

Alternative bearer services

Videostreaming

Booking on-line

Device as payment tool

E-commerce

1° step: results

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2° step: concepts evaluation, usage & pricing (running activities) Objectives:

3. To verify the more interesting benefit for each prepared concepts identifying the profile of potential early adopters

5. To verify the “price awareness” analysing the changing demand according to the price variation

7. To estimate adoption time, attitudes and utilize situation for each concept service

Methodology:

FOCUS GROUP

Sample:

Students that spend a lot of time out of home vs students focused in-home activities, travelling workers vs. permanent workers

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Conclusion

We hope to have reached the aim to design new 3G services according “real” user needs and following the

mental model of potential customers.Up to now the users responses have

confirmed the value of the user centred design process.

The involvement of potential users from the first designing phase has been a

very valuable experience.

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Antonella ROELLA

Tel. 011 2286312Fax 011 2286190E-mail antonella.roella@tilab.com

Aldo REOLON

Tel. 011 2286313Fax 011 2286190E-mail aldo.reolon@tilab.com

…Thanks!