Survey: wireless data services are too expensive, complex

- Gary Thayer, Editor

Sept. 6, 2005 -- (MobileVillage) -- Why aren't users of wireless PDAs and smartphones in love with wireless data services? The main reason -- at least in North America -- is at first cost, according to the results of a poll released today. And once users have tried mobile data services, its user-unfriendliness prevents many people from continuing such services.

The findings are the result of the Action Engine Worldwide Mobile Usability Study conducted by Action Engine, a provider of -- no surprise here -- mobile data services and application delivery. The study included participants who were located in various countries throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region, according to Action Engine.

The survey questions were developed from the usability criteria defined in "The 7 Rules of Mobile Data User Experience," a paper written by wireless industry expert, Elliott Drucker. Since 1998, Drucker has been featured regularly in the publication Wireless Week and is considered to be a leading authority on wireless usability and network design.

Through the results of this survey several key conclusions can be found about the mobile user experience with wireless data services and applications:

Usability is the #1 Purchasing Influencer: When asked which factor most influenced their purchasing decision, 59% of respondents cited ‘Ease of use/Positive user reviews’ as their most important buying criteria, exceeding ‘Value for Price.’ For respondents based in Europe, this percentage rose to 95%, demonstrating the strong impact that usability has on product sales.

Cost and Complexity Prevent Usage: 34% of those surveyed indicated that they are not using mobile applications despite the availability of faster networks and new mobile data services. Of the people who had not used these services, 46% of respondents listed cost as their number one barrier to using data services and 28% listed complexity of use as the second reason they are avoiding new services. Assuming those barriers were reduced, 70% of respondents indicated that they would use mobile applications like news, weather, and sports scores at least 2-5 times a week.

Email is Not the Killer Mobile App: Respondents ranked interest in News, Weather, Travel, Driving Directions, and Mapping applications above Communications applications, like Email and Instant Messenger.

Users Want More Personalization: 85% of those surveyed indicated that having mobile applications remember their favorites and preferences was important or very important.

Speed is the Key: Fewer trips to the network and ‘fast response times’ were listed as the most important features for respondents who use mobile applications. 76% of respondents indicated that two or less trips to the network would be all that was tolerable when using a mobile application. Respondents also indicated that they would not expect to spend more than 5 minutes online while using a mobile application.

Off-Portal Downloads are the Most Popular Delivery Mechanism: Respondents indicated that the most popular place to purchase a mobile application is from a third-party mobile downloads Website rather than the mobile or PC Websites of their own service provider/mobile operator. 10% of respondents said that they only use the mobile applications that come preinstalled on their phone. 49% of people said that monthly subscriptions would be their ideal payment method for mobile applications.

For more information on the Action Engine platform, see the company's summary page on MobileVillage.

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