User Experience of Mobile Internet: Analysis and Recommendations

User Experience of Mobile Internet: Analysis and Recommendations

Eija Kaasinen, Virpi Roto, Kristin Roloff, Kaisa Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila, Teija Vainio, Wolfgang Maehr, Dhaval Joshi, Sujan Shrestha
Copyright: © 2011 |Pages: 20
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-499-8.ch011
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Abstract

Mobile access to the Internet with handheld devices has been technically possible for quite a while and consumers are aware of the services but not so ready to use them. A central reason for the low usage is that user experience of the mobile Internet is not yet sufficiently good. This paper analyses the mobile Internet from the end-user perspective, identifying factors and solutions that would make Internet usage on a mobile device an enjoyable experience. User experience can be improved by a better understanding of users and usage contexts, by developing mobile services that better serve the needs of mobile users, easing service discovery and by developing the infrastructure needed for the mobile Internet. This paper discusses all these aspects and gives development recommendations. Multidisciplinary and multicultural cooperation between the various actors in the field is needed to improve user experience.
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User Experience

User experience is a term that describes a user’s feelings towards a specific technology, system, or object during and after interacting with it. Various aspects influence the feelings, such as the user’s expectations, the conditions in which the interaction takes place, and the system’s ability to serve the user’s current needs.

Taking the mobile Internet into use proceeds via the intention to use to the actual adoption. The Technology Acceptance Model for Mobile Services, TAMM (Kaasinen, 2005), states that the perceived value, perceived ease of use, and trust towards the mobile Internet all trigger the intention to use. If the adoption phase is also seen as being easy, people will start using the mobile Internet (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Technology acceptance model for mobile services, TAMM (Kaasinen, 2005)

978-1-60960-499-8.ch011.f01

By the time the user starts to use the mobile Internet, s/he has certain expectations of it. If the expectations are low, user experience may be good even if the system is not perfect. People also evaluate the value they experienced with the mobile Internet, and that may overcome the possible difficulties and thereby make the user experience positive. So, although the mobile Internet system might not be perfect yet, it does not mean that the user experience has to be poor.

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