Stuart Corner
Monday, 28 January 2008 08:55
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
A survey of cellphone users in the UK has come up with some, hardly surprising results: most people just use their phones for voice and text, don't read manuals and use only a fraction of the features and functions available on their handsets. Who did the survey, and why, is much more interesting.
The research was commissioned by mobile interaction management specialist SNAPin Software. Extrapolating the results of its 2000 strong sample to the UK as a whole, SNAPin reported that: "60 percent of UK mobile users exclusively call and text from their mobile phones...30 percent of respondents use the camera or take and send pictures to friends and family..[and] just 12 percent of mobile users e-mail from their mobile phone or access the Internet...Even though blogging has gained ground as a popular pastime, only one percent of respondents blog from their mobile phones." Street navigation proved to be the least popular mobile service, with just three percent using it.
According to SNAPin "UK consumers are experiencing a number of issues that may be perceived as barriers to the wider adoption of mobile features and services:... services apathy, billing confusion and manual fatigue....Almost a third of respondents are confused about mobile operators' billing rates and how they are being charged for additional offerings...Many respondents (18 percent) cannot be bothered to go through a user manual in order to learn how to use certain applications."
Robert Lewis, president & CEO, SNAPin Software, said: "Today's mobile phones are packed with functionality, yet many mobile users only discover a mere fraction of the features and applications available. We believe this situation is symptomatic of how mobile handset manufacturers and operators approach user education. Users need simpler and less time intensive ways of discovering their mobile phones' potential...These need to be delivered at the right time – when users require them most."
As someone who has struggled with what in my view is the grossly inadequate and badly written manual for my Nokia N95 I can only agree. (And don't get me started on the stupidity of the user interface which flips the display into landscape mode as soon as you so much as look at the phone, so you then have to flick the slide to get it back into the more familiar portrait mode)
