Digital Jacknife Aja Xevangerber

The wild west of mobile
Evan Gerber,
Principal Consultant
Experience Design

The Western Expansion

• In 1803, Andrew Jackson
effects the Louisiana
Purchase from France
• Suddenly …

2 Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar

The Mobile Expansion


Go West, Young Brand - Overview

• Mobile Landscape
– User
– Carrier
– Marketer
– Device

• Findings and Lessons
– Mobile and Teens
– Mobile and Adults
– User Centric Design

• Stump the Chump


The mobile landscape:
End Users


Mobile – there’s gold in them hills!

• 7 out of 10 US adults have a mobile
phone, 1 in 7 use it exclusively



• 88.4 million US households have at
least one phone, average has 2.1
devices



devices
• 89% of consumers have a mobile
phone



devices
phone
• 17% of users are now on the mobile
web – 34.6 million people



devices
phone
• More than 33% of users send and
receive text messages


devices
phone
• More than 33% of users send and
receive text messages
• 30% of US adults have a web-
enabled phone, and 40% have some
form of data service


The market is almost saturated

Rates of cell phone adoption (US households)

120,000,000
100,000,000
80,000,000
60,000,000
40,000,000
20,000,000
0
2001 2005 2008 2012


But there is still room for meaningful growth

• 17% increase in smartphones
(up from 10% in 2007)



(up from 10% in 2007)
• Average spend on new devices
- $101 (up $9 vs. previous 6
months)



(up from 10% in 2007)
months)
• 33% obtained their handsets
for ‘free’ (previously 36%)



(up from 10% in 2007)
months)
• 40% ranked style and design
as the most important
consideration in choosing



(up from 10% in 2007)
months)
• 40% ranked style and design
as the most important
consideration in choosing
• Average handset life is 17.7
months (16.6 months in 2006)


User sophistication is a barrier to adoption

– There is a discrepancy in the number of web-enabled phones in
circulation as reported by carriers vs. consumers,
• suggesting that some users aren’t fully aware of their
handset’s capabilities.



– Users don’t know what features their devices have, and
therefore are not tempted to use paid services
• Over 75% of phones have browsers
• But only 45% of users know it
• Ultimately, 25% of all users are on the mobile web


The Carriers


Consumers don’t like or trust the carriers.
They switch plans quickly.

To minimize churn, carriers are offering unlimited plans.
This opens new horizons for the US consumer.

Data is Clearly Becoming King

“Voice plans are pretty pricey, so I try to
be a texter”

• While voice ARPU continues
its march downward…

• …users’ appetite for data is
surging and showing no signs
of abating
“It’s one of those things that once you have
it, you don’t know what you did without it.”


Many Platforms, Many Phones


Caution: Net Neutrality

• Carriers want to retain
control



control
• Brands need their
permission



control
• Brands need their
permission
• This will change over time
– Android
– White Space


The Marketers


Some major prospectors: Text Advertising

• Major brands adopting and pushing forward in many
verticals
– Consumer Brands – Procter and Gamble, Coca Cola


Some major prospectors: Transactional

verticals
– Online Banking – Bank of America, Citibank, Barclays, Wachovia


Some major prospectors: Transactional

verticals
– Online Banking – Bank of America, Citibank, Barclays,
Wachovia
– Travel – Kayak, Orbitz, Delta


Some major prospectors: Social

verticals
– Online Banking – Bank of America, Citibank, Barclays,
Wachovia
– Travel – Kayak, Orbitz, Delta
– Social Networking – Facebook, MySpace, Google, etc…


Caution: Rapid Change


The raised, and the game
The bar is raised, and the game is changed


The raised, and the game
The bar is raised, and the game is changed

• Phone as fashion accoutrement
• Phone as fashion accoutrement
• Phone as all purpose digital accessory
• Phone as all purpose digital accessory
• Phone as extension of persona
• Phone as extension of persona


And it will open more with Android

• Rumor: HTC will be
making multiple phones for
the Android Platform
• Fact: The Dev Community
is a little mad due to a
buggy SDK, some people
think it’s vaporware
• My .02 – Google is
throwing money at it,
they’ll make it so.


Rich User Experiences are Needed
to Drive the Mobile Phone Market

• Aside from the experience delivered by the iPhone, a lack
of rich user interactions on the mobile phone is a pain
point for many consumers

But for the Phone to Succeed,
the User Experience Must be Compelling

“I chose an iPhone. Nokia had all the features but their user interface is terrible.”

• AT&T experienced a sharp rise in subscribers after the
release of the iPhone as users flocked to the device
due to its engaging user interface and ease of use

The Mobile Device is Destined to be a Jack of All Trades

• At least 40% of all respondents want utility and interactions from their
mobiles that mimics what they can get from their PCs
– Multi-tool: utility and functionality

But the cellphone is dead

• Currently, users seek to use their phone primarily as a
communication device and organization tool
– It is thought of as a tool primarily for voice, email, and text
communications, or light organizational tasks
– However, the market is changing
• Data plans are opening up
• Content is becoming more available
• Users are beginning to expect more from their devices


The phone is undergoing cultural transformation

• What is now perceived as a communication
tool with other functions will become a
digital tool that bridges the divide between
online and offline, digital and analog worlds.


Case Studies


User Centric Mobile Design


What is User Centric Design?


User Research: Make sure your audience is there

• Within different groups, there are different behaviors
– Not just age
– Ethnicity
– Income

• Make sure that
the audience you
target uses the
phone in the
manner you want
to use
“I wouldn’t text if it wasn’t for my girlfriend”


User Research: Analyze their phone usage

• Carriers


User Research: Analyze their phone usage

• Plans and usage

Email Browsing the web SMS


User Research: What kinds of phones do they
use?

• Sophistication
• Operating Systems
• Interfaces

WAP HTML TEXT


Designing: Optimize for Small Screens

– Visual design
– Content modeling
– Heuristic cues

Optimize content for Will images scale? Can they see the
smaller screens buttons?


Designing: Simplify Interactions

• Simplify content entry and data manipulation
– Tough to Type
– Hard to Use Dropdowns


Designing: Consider the Context

– Ever-changing environment
– Sporadic Connectivity
– Public Spaces vs Private Content


Designing: Design for the Platform

• Application code impacts battery longevity
– Simple Graphics
– Minimize Data Transfer


Designing: Speak a language they understand

• Speak a language they understand
• Icons, menus, and behavioral systems
• Users have to teach themselves the language of the
phone
• Clean icons at top levels, logical navigations within
applications


Building: Don’t Miniaturize it


Building: Don’t Miniaturize it – Mobilize it!


Building: Pare it down to what’s crucial


Building: And then pare it down again


Building: And then pare it down again

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Testing applications for mobile

• Setup – you don’t have as much control
– Backup phone, charger
– Decent connectivity
– Tools to see phone as well as user


• Scripts – be flexible
– Lots of different phones means lots of
different experiences
– Prepare to adapt on the fly and then
normalize findings
– Have a plan for when their phone crashes



• Scripts – be flexible
• Test before you test
– Test early and often, but only once app is
stable and reliable
– Test in different areas


Testing usability with teens

• They are sometimes intimidated
– Harder to get the truth from them, they want to please
– Not especially good at thinking out loud



• They are hard to nail down
– They will waffle based on your questions
– It’s hard to dig in



• They are hard to nail down
• With teens, come parents
– Lots of rules and laws
– Be careful!


Some findings
• More sophisticated phone users
expect an experience more
analogous to the web


Some findings
• Older phone models do better with
a simplified, text based UI


Some findings
• Teens are adapted to rapid change
and emerging technologies
• Comfortable with rapid change
• Think they know more than they
might
• MMS is still not widely understood


Some findings

• Teens are adapted to rapid change
and emerging technologies
• Kids are so proficient that they get
ahead of themselves
• Cause hang-ups
• Impair using the platform


Devices aren’t responsive
“The feedback from the touch screen – the way
it vibrates in acknowledgement.”
• Communication with the device will become
as important as communication between
others
• Data entry and manipulation is core to
the process
• Have the device react to user inputs
• The device should be proactive, not
reactive to user needs
• Learn from user behavior, and predict
actions
• Provide haptic feedback when typing
and interacting

Users want control of their devices
• Not only do users require the ability to highly
personalize their devices, but they will want to be able
to easily organize and manipulate information through
the GUI.

• Solutions:
• Allow them to organize their own
files and data architecture
• Make the information structure as
flat as possible (don’t bury things)
• Simplify personalization of ringtones,
wallpapers, and system settings
• Enable users to move or hide menus
that are not frequently used

The learning curve is steep
• Users have to teach themselves to speak the language
of the phone. The more the phone can speak to them,
the better.
• Solution:
• Use a visual language that they already understand,
i.e. windows and files
• Develop clean iconography at the top levels,
combined with simple, intuitive menus
• Avoid unnecessary animations and graphics

“Simplicity and Usability are paramount to all users, but
articulating this at point of sale might be challenging.”


It is hard for users to read smaller screens
• The screen is the heart of the
GUI. While it can be hard to
increase the size of the device,
there are ways to increase the
value of the available space.
• Solution:
• Simplify information, hide
extraneous data
• Higher screen resolutions
squeeze more onto the page
• Avoid distracting animations
• Ensure that color palettes
have contrast, but are not
jarring

Summary

• Mobile is taking off
• Big Brands are getting involved
• The ecosystem can be very
complicated
• Teenagers are a great
audience
– Reach the right ones, with the
right message, in the right way
– Develop applications tailored
to their needs
– Test carefully and thoroughly
• Go West, Young Brand!


Thanks for coming! Any Questions?


Appendix A – contact information and
resources

• http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/#iddiv3126674664
– It’s dry, but comprehensive – the W3C’s Mobile Best Practices

• http://wapreview.com/blog/?p=321
– This is a great, if somewhat visually unengaging site to check
out

• http://www.boohooforyou.com/
– Funny, if a tad weird, site talking about functionality available in
japan. Take it with a grain of salt. It might be down, search for
it on the wayback machine.

• http://fiercemobilewireless.com/


Drop me a line, email, SMS, MMS, text …

Evan Gerber
Principal Consultant, Experience Design
P 415.541.2835
F 310.907.3565

E egerber@molecular.com


Digital Jacknife Aja Xevangerber

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