RE: UKNM: WAP Numbers

[ifrazerh]

Am I the only one that is slightly dismayed about the overall response to

this study? Yes, the report stated that 70% of users answered no when asked

whether they would like to have a WAP phone within one year. But 80% said

yes to having a WAP phone within 3 years. It concludes that "users

definitely see potential in the Mobile Internet".


The point that no-one seems to have taken is that, "It's striking how much

our findings from this WAP usability study in late 2000 resemble several

Web usability studies we conducted in 1994 (the age of Mosaic)." Marc

Andresson took Mosaic commercial as Netscape Navigator and the rest is

history. I don't think any chinwag readers would conclude that the Web has

been a failure and if WAP follows the same success curve, then it will be a

massive success.


As the study points out, there are severe problems with accessing data.

This will definitely improve over time as gateways get more robust and

'always-on' GPRS technology comes into place. We sometimes forget that WAP

phones have been available for not even a year - this is an industry in its

infancy and there are bound to be problems - most of which will be

alleviated over time.


Most of the study's conclusions point to massive failures in usability -

"even the simplest tasks takes much too long to provide any user

satisfaction" and "good user interface design can alleviate some of the

problems." This is not a technology failure: it's a design failure. Far too

many people now developing for the mobile Internet seem to think that

re-writing fat-client PC apps in WML is enough. It manifestly isn't.


Interestingly, one of the few sites to emerge from this study with any

credit is travel information specialist Kizoom. It describes their approach

as "both simple and clear to the user. The approach should be standard

practice in an environment where screen real estate is so limited and the

potential for error so big....this is a site that really knows what it is

doing and can teach many other sites useful lessons. At this stage I should

flag that they are a client of mine but they have invested massively in

building a personalised service that caters to and understands the

limitations of the current handset and the unique requirements of the

mobile user. Currently, they are serving up a run-rate of 250,000 train

look-ups a month (based on the Railtrack feed), which is around 8% of the

total number of Web-based enquiries to the Railtrack site. Not bad for a

technology that nobody is supposed to be using. The lesson here is that, if

you build it right, they will come.


So can we please have a more balanced conversation about WAP. It's an

immature technology that will get better over time and one that users

definitely recognise as having potential. Yes, there are problems and yes

there is too little compelling content out there and almost none of it is

delivered in a user-friendly fashion. That's not a technology failure,

that's a people failure and its one that people, if they take the time, can

actually fix.


Iain

---------------------- Forwarded by Iain Frazer-Halpin/UK/EMEA/BrodeurWW on

12/12/2000 10:43 AM ---------------------------



"Teddie (*\\*)" <

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>@chinwag.com on 12/08/2000 10:55:52

AM


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Subject:  RE: UKNM: WAP Numbers



Direct from Useit.com.

WAP Usability Report was released at the World Tour event in London

November 30. Conclusions:

     - 70% of the users answered no when asked whether they would like to

have

a WAP phone within one year;

     - even the simplest tasks take much too much time to provide any

satisfaction to users;

     - even after spending a week using a WAP phone, user performance

remained

appallingly low;

     - WAP content was frequently designed for the Web and not for the

requirements of the mobile medium, further reducing usability: repurposing

didn't work when putting brochureware on the Web in 1994 and it doesn't

work when fielding mobile services in 2000


Just to push on from WAP. Is anyone working on marketing or advertsing for

Bluetooth enabled apps?


Teddie


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