PICMET 2007 Proceedings, 5-9 August, Portland, Oregon - USA © 2007 PICMET

Factors Affecting the Adoption of Mobile Services

Banu Kargin, Nuri BasogluBogazici University, Department of Management Information Systems, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract--Mobile technologies are gaining more popularityand diffusing into every aspects of our life. Value AddedServices (VAS) has huge impact on consumers' usage patternsand became a significant differentiator across the operators.These led to new opportunities in innovation of differentiatingservices. Better services will be best developed by understandingthe requirements of the users. In this study, our intention is toshed some light on the process of mobile service adoption byinvestigating value added services especially for informative andlocation based services. The study started with a backgroundresearch to identify factors determining the adoption of mobileservices; then continued with a qualitative study, namelyinterview. Factors are analyzed according to proposed mobileservice adoption taxonomy, which has "service aspect" and"social aspect". Ease of use (EoU) and usefulness are perceivedas most significant adoption factors in mobile service usage.These factors are related to both "service" and "social" aspects.While, content and mobility are dominant factors in terms ofservice aspect, social influence which is a category of socialaspect is more important than characteristics of users.

I. INTRODUCTION

Mobile technologies are gaining more popularity anddiffusing into every aspects of our life. Value Added Services(VAS) has huge impact on consumers' usage patterns andbecame a significant differentiator across the operators. TheMobile Industry is no longer just about the delivery of voiceover phones. The future of mobile telephony is expected torely on mobile services [7] due to saturation in voice.Therefore, operators try to find new and alternative sources ofrevenue. Introduction of new content services such as logo-melody or RBT (Ring Back Tone), and voting-contestservices, data services, messaging services and java gamesmakes the mobile industry more dynamic and promising.Non-voice now represents between 15% and 29% of operatorservice revenue, depending on the market. Of that, mobileInternet downloads and data now contribute a veryrespectable 300 to 17% of total service revenue [49]. Torespond declining average revenue per user (ARPU) intelecommunication markets, mobile data services are seen asremediation [27]. Reference [6] also underlines theimportance of mobile services that the future oftelecommunication sector will be depending on thedevelopment of mobile internet services in addition to that ofvoice services [6]. The adoption of new mobile servicesdisclaims this proposition as it has been much slower thanexpected, especially in Europe [7]. However, basic servicesevolved rapidly. A good example is SMS (Short MessageService), which became surprisingly popular after 1995 asusers began sending messages to each other. Initially, it wasintroduced as an information service from operators to users.

However, SMS became a greatly profitable business onlywhen it became possible to send messages (P2P Messaging),which changed the communication world for users andcontributed to creating a European mobile culture [24].Messaging services allow either the exchange of textmessages or multimedia messages. However, the success ofSMS can not be compared with MMS: MMS does not have ahuge impact on total messaging market revenue. This may bethe result of acquired habits which have a strong effect on thechoice of messaging [6]. The transition from text tomultimedia is an important change. Rau et al. [40] say thatthis transition phase is similar to transition from DOS toWindows in PCs.

Although some mobile services such as SMS, ring tones,icons and logos have either been adopted on a large scale orhave at least been tried by a majority of users [8], moreadvanced services have not yet found their ways into theeveryday lives of consumers. This basic challenge is tounderstand how and why people adopt or do not adopt mobileservices [7]. Gilbert et al. also tried to understand MobileData Services (MDS) adoption. According to Gilbert's study,decisions to use new services are innovation behaviors thatchange according to needs and perceptions of individualadopters. It also suggests to segment markets for MDS bycombining demographic and psychographic data [16].

Hsu et al. [20] made a study about adoption factors ofMMS (Multimedia Message Service). MMS allowsmultimedia communication with entertainment effects(exchange pictures, sound clips, voice recording or animatedpictures) rather than text-based short message service. In thestudy, it was seen that there is a significant differencebetween potential adopters and users. Apart from thesestudies many other causes have been proposed for adoptionfactors. This paper also aims to discover these adoptionfactors by conducting interviews to service users. The studyseeks to find adoption factors for experienced and novice(less-experienced) users separately.

The reason for a low level of demand and a slow diffusionmay be user resistance, reliability concerns, price, socialeffects, or technical problems. On the other hand, some of theenablers of mobile services are improvements in networkbandwidth and quality, ease of use, device or handsetimprovements, content richness or customer experiences maylead to development ofnew mobile services.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand adoptionfactors of mobile services in general. The remainder of thepaper is organized as follows. The literature review sectionprovides conceptual background including a brief review ofthe literature on the acceptance models, diffusion ofinnovations, and adoption research models to mobile

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services. In the third section, research method and datacollection are presented. In the findings and discussionsection, interview responses are classified, commented andpresented deeply. In the final section, conclusions arepresented.

II. LITERATURE SURVEY

Better services will be best developed by understandingthe requirements and needs of the users. Before exploring themobile service adoption factors, foundation of theories andprevious studies on technology adoption has been explored.A number of theories have been developed to help explainingthe concept of technology adoption [34], [26]. In summary,theoretical models that aim to clarify the relationship between

consumer attitudes, intentions, and actual use include theTheory of Reasoned Action (TRA) [3], the Theory of PlannedBehavior (TPB) [4], Innovation Diffusion Theory [43], [1],[2], [35] and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [12],[10]. One of the widely accepted and applied models is theTechnology Acceptance Model [12]. TAM was proposed byDavis in 1989. TAM focuses on two particular constructs ofperceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as drivers oftechnology acceptance. Perceived ease of use and perceivedusefulness predict attitude toward use of a technology. Then,attitude toward use predicts the behavioral intention to use.Finally, intention predicts the actual use of that technology[12]. In summary, it includes five concepts: easy of use,usefulness, attitudes towards use, intention to use and actualuse. Davis's original TAM is shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 1 Technology Acceptance Model [12].

The model ofTAM is a very useful theoretical model thathas been tested in many empirical studies. The results andconstructs of TAM are utilized in many studies. Especially,the study of reference [29] summarizes and compares thefindings of researches done with TAM [29].

Lederer et al. investigated TAM for work related tasksinvolving the web. Their findings provided support for TAMand also corroborated that usefulness has a stronger effectthan ease of use [28]. Addition to this, some studies haveshown that the perceived ease of use has little influence onacceptance. Sometimes, the influence could not even beproved. It is argued that it depends on the kind of task as towhether this influential factor is important for acceptance ornot [36]. TAM may be seen as a special case of the TRA[15]. TRA is used to explain behavior beyond the adoption oftechnology. The TRA-model includes four general concepts:behavioral attitudes, subjective norm, intention to use andactual use.

Diffusion of innovation is also functional to explainadoption factors. Practitioners and academics generallyconsider it as a useful way to study how innovationstransform into consumer use [8]. According to reference [43],the more successful an innovation is, the lower its complexityand the higher its relative advantage, compatibility,trialability, and communicability are. The Davis and Rogers

models are both widely supported and complementary to eachother. Specifically, Davis's usefulness is similar to Rogers'srelative advantage factor and Davis's ease of use is similar toRogers's factor of complexity [42]. Few studies are foundapplying adoption research models to mobile services ingeneral [38]. Pedersen et al. say that because the users ofmobile services are usually younger as well as skilful andexperienced in technology use, the determinant of ease of useinfluences probably less their technology adoption behaviorthan could be expected on the basis of TAM. Reference [39]concluded that the TAM model may be too parsimonious andshould successfully be supplemented and extended usingmore operational concepts, such as compatibility and image[39]. Reference [5] criticized the TAM model that it ignoresthe potential existence of perceived critical benefits andbarriers to the use of technology [5]. Reference [30] focusesthat a new generation of mobile telephony presents thetelephone as a content medium as well as a communicationmedium. They identified the factors of sociability, mobilityand instrumentality in addition to other factors [30].Reference [31] also tried to define social influence via"Psychological Attachment" construct. It can be defined asthe degree of commitment of user toward system use basedon the effects of social influences [31] .

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Reference [25] also explained the benefits provided bymobile technologies as "anytime and anywhere computing"and outlined the two most common dimensions of mobility asindependence of time and place [25]. Mobility is definitecontribution of mobile devices to our lives. Compared withtraditional electronic commerce, mobile computing providesusers with more freedom, as they can access information andservices without having to find a physical place, such as, anoffice or an Internet cafe [33]. However, reference [22]argued that mobility is not just being independent from placeor geographical restrictions, but it is far more notably relatedto the interaction they perform. They suggest expanding theconcept of mobility by looking at three distinct dimensions ofhuman interaction, namely spatial, temporal and contextualmobility. In this research, the term, mobility, is used forindependence from place; regardless of where people are,home or office; they can access information or use services[22]. Reference [ 18] also identified the gratifications ofsociability, instrumentality and entertainment/enjoyment byconducting a uses study on text messaging. Of thesegratifications, only instrumentality significantly predicted theuse of text messaging services [18]. Reference [17] studiedthe adoption of text messaging among teenagers and foundthat text messaging (SMS) were preferred to other mediabecause it was considered quicker, cheaper, easier and moreconvenient to use [17]. These are helpful in explaining thefactors of usefulness and ease of use. Reference [38]proposed a mobile service adoption model. The modelclarifies the adopters' intention to use mobile services. Theyexplained the factors of enjoyment and usefulness in additionto other factors such as expressiveness, subjective norm andbehavioral control [38].

Another study is done by Turel et al. (2006) that usedAmerican Customer Satisfaction Model with mobile services.It is an adaptation of the ACSM to mobile services.According to results, perceived quality and perceived value(like usefulness) are the main factors for satisfaction withmobile services [48].

III. RESEARCH METHOD

A qualitative research approach was chosen for the currentstudy which is a face to face semi-structured in-depthinterviewing with mobile service users. The data for thecurrent research is extracted from interviews concerning theadoption factors of mobile services especially informationbased services. Users are categorized as experienced andnovice users based on their usage level of mobile services andnumber of different services they have.

The analysis of the data concentrates on identifying theadoption factors of mobile services. The minimum selectioncriterion for participants was experience on SMS use.

Experience on SMS use was estimated to be necessary to beable to discuss the adoption factors of more advanced mobileservices.

In our previous quantitative research [23], the connectionbetween satisfaction, attitude, usefulness, ease of use,entertainment, mobility, social factors, personalization,experience, content, image, external influences, WOM (Wordof Mouth), cost and innovativeness are examined. Based onthe findings of our previous study, new constructs have beenexplored during interviews. These were face-to-faceinterviews with twelve mobile service users, 6 of them areexperienced users, and others are novice users. Eachinterview was audio recorded; notes are taken and each ofthem took approximately one hour. Interviews were reportedafter each meeting.

IV. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

A. Profile ofIntervieweesThe interviewees are aged between 25 and 35. The gender

distribution of the study subjects was 4000 females and 60%males. Users are categorized as experienced and novice usersaccording to their service usage experiences and number ofdifferent services they use.

The profiles of different groups are as follows:* 6 novice users: Average age of this group is 32. They

have 1.5 years of mobile service experience and theyhave one service on average except SMS (see Table I).

* 6 experienced users: Average age of the group is 27.They have 3 years of mobile service experience and theyare using four different services on average except SMS(see Table I).

TABLE I PROFILES OF INTERVIEWEES BASED ON GROUPSAge Service Experience # of Services

(in years) (in years) UsedExperienced Users 27 3 4Novice Users 32 1,5 1

100% of the interview participants had at least one mobiledevice in use and used at least one mobile service. Thesample consists of high school graduates, university students,university graduates or master's degree holders.

B. The Proposed Mobile Service Adoption TaxonomyIn this section factors affecting user adoption have been

classified. For this classification, interviews have beenanalyzed deeply, and each comment of users has beenassigned to a related class. Then, number of comments hasbeen counted. The proposed mobile service adoptiontaxonomy is shown in Fig. 1.

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Fig. 2 Proposed Mobile Service Adoption Taxonomy

According to the taxonomy, mobile service adoption hastwo main aspects; service aspect and social aspect.

In the service aspect, there are four main categories; cost,content, enjoyment and mobility. Content correctness,content delivery time, content quality, content provider arethe ingredients of content. Cost is another aspect of mobileservices which can be compared with value of services.Service costs are also researched by reference [8]. Mobilityand location independence are also heavily pointed out duringinterviews. Mobile computing provides users more freedom,as they can access information and services without having tofind a physical place, such as an office or an Internet cafe[33]. Enjoyment is also a category of service aspect.

Social aspect has two main categories; user characteristicsand social influences. User characteristics are thecharacteristics of users such as habits, experiences,innovativeness, preferences, etc. Social influences areexternal influences such as advertisements or other users'comments. The need for differentiating oneself may also beincluded in social influences.

Two categories that are cited by interviewees, ease of useand usefulness, are the factors that are influenced by eitherservice or social aspect of the mobile service adoptiontaxonomy. Ease of use aspect includes technology factors andvisual factors. Functionality, convenience, service quantity,speed are examples for technology factors. The screen size,color resolution, navigation buttons, buttons of cellularphones are examples to visual factors. In literature, perceivedease of use is defined as "the degree to which a personbelieves that using a particular system would be free ofeffort" [12]. Davis and his colleagues [10], [12] demonstratedthat perceived ease of use affects perceived usefulness.Usefulness refers to "the degree to which a person believesthat using a particular system would enhance his or her job

performance" [12]. Ease of use and usefulness are thecategories that are not in service or in social aspect of ourtaxonomy. They may be influenced by either service or socialaspect of the mobile service adoption taxonomy.

C. Weights of Mobile Service Adoption Taxonomy's Aspectsand Categories

To be clear about power of aspects and categories,percentage of weights for the mobile service adoption aspectsand categories are calculated. The percentages are calculateddepending on comments of users. According to results, easeof use and usefulness categories, which are either in serviceor in social aspect, have 49°0 weight. This is more than thestrength of social and service aspects of taxonomy. Thirtyfour percent of the interviewees' comments are about theservice aspect. Lastly, weight for the social aspect is onlyseventeen percent (see Table II).

TABLE II WEIGHTS OF MOBILE SERVICEADOPTION TAXONOMY ASPECTS

Mobile Service Adoption Aspects Weight (%Either Service or Social 49%Service Aspect 34%Social Aspect 17%

Weights are also presented in detail by categories (seeTable III). EoU category has the highest weight. Thirty sixpercent of the interviewees' comments are about EoU.Usefulness has the second highest weight which is thirteenpercent. Content, which is a category of service aspect, hasthe third highest weight. Twelve percent of the interviewees'comments are about content category. For details see TableIII.

TABLE III WEIGHTS OF MOBILE SERVICE ADOPTION TAXONOMY'S CATEGORIESCategory Aspect Weight (0)

EoU Either Service or Social 36%Usefulness Either Service or Social 13%Content Service 12%Social Influences Social 12%Mobility Service 9%Cost Service 8%Enjoyment Service 5%User Characteristics Social 5%

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D. Interview Details & PerceptionsThis section presents and examines the data collected duringin-depth interviews.

1) Service Aspecta. Content

Interviewees stressed on content of mobile services.Especially, correctness, quality and delivery time of contentare critical and differentiating factors for mobile services.Based on interviewees' responses, content is equallyimportant for experienced and novice users. Content andcontent providers are major factors for the performance ofsuch services. In literature, reference [16] focuses onimportance of content aspect of services. According to theirfindings, one key barrier to attracting a critical mass ofadopters is the lack of compelling content [16].

One of the participants commented on content as follows:"Contents will distinguish the services. Contents shouldbe recent, correct and timely. Quality and benefits ofcontents are also significant... " (Male, Novice, 30)

b. CostCost is another factor of mobile services which can be

compared to the value of services. Users compare costs andbenefits of services and try to find relative advantage overother services. Service costs are also researched by Carlssonet al. (2005). They found that financial costs are thesignificant barriers to the use of mobile services [8].

The comments about Cost of services are interesting. Oneparticipant mentioned the following about cost:

"Cost of service has effect on my usage decision. Cost-benefit ratio is an important factor. If it is worth mymoney, I use these services. It should offer somethingoriginal not a copy ofinternet (Female, Novice, 27)

Another comment is given below;"Sometimes my wife hesitates about using a service ifshe does not know the price of the service. I think priceand communication of price with users are importantfactors" (Male, Experienced User, 34)

One of the interviewees compared the mobile services'price with price of internet in the following way;

"Internet is free of charge compared to some mobileservices such as horoscope, daily news. If I am notmobile, I prefer to use Internet over PC" (Female,Novice, 28)

c. MobilityTo have access real time information and communications

(i.e., need for work, emergency, communication, andcontact), mobility is significant. Mobile computing providesusers more freedom, as they can access information andservices without having to find a physical place, such as, anoffice or an Internet cafe [33]. Reference [25] also explainedthe benefits provided by mobile technologies as "anytime and

anywhere computing" and outlined the two most commondimensions of mobility as independence of time and place[25]. In addition to these findings, reference [32] usedmobility construct in the research model. Some of theparticipants underlined the importance of mobility in thefollowing comments:

"When I am not at home or at office, I can easily accessmy e-mail account or daily news. This makes life easier"(Female, Experienced User, 24)"When I am in the smoking room of office, I can use mytime effectively by accessing the systems via mobilephone" (Male, Novice, 30)

d. Enjoyment/EntertainmentMany mobile services are entertainment services

primarily. We expect entertainment to be more relevant whenexplaining service usefulness. Reference [18] identified theentertainment/enjoyment as a gratification on text messaging.In addition to this, reference [50] identified enjoyment as animportant construct that will affect users' intention to use amobile device. Reference [6] also underlined the significanceof perceived entertainment. In the study, they found thatperceived entertainment plays an important role in future useof services. Reference [11] defined perceived enjoyment asthe extent to which the activity of using the informationtechnology is perceived to be enjoyable in its own right;different from any performance results that may beanticipated [11]. Reference [45] also clarified the effect ofperceived enjoyment in their study. They have proposedexpanded expectation-confirmation model (ECM) withperceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use [45].

"The messages coming in the morning from horoscopepackage make me happy. I enjoy these messages. Theymake my life colorful. If messages come late or do notcome, on that particular day I feel like I am missingsomething in my life" (Female, Experienced User, 24)

2) Social AspectSocial aspect has two main categories; user characteristics

and social influences.

a. Social Influences (External Influence)Social influences are external influences such as

advertisements or other users' comments. Users'differentiation needs are also called as external influences.Nearly all participants commented on social influence foradoption of mobile services. Some examples are below:

... opinions and experiences of users are significantdirections for me. Before using a new technology, Iprefer to ask existing users" (Female, Experienced User,24)"I like to hear experiences of users. I take commentsabout products or services" (Male, Experienced User,34)

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Literature is also parallel to interviewees' responses.When individuals have no or little experience on the relatedinnovation, they will be affected by opinions of referencegroups [44]. Similar to reference [44], reference [21] alsoused the social factors in their research model. Theyclassified social factors as peer influence and externalinfluence [21].

b. User CharacteristicsUser characteristics are the characteristics of the user such

as habits, experiences, innovativeness, preferences, etc.Innovativeness is defined as the extent to which an

individual is early in adopting new ideas relative to othermembers of a society [43]. Reference [21] also used theconstruct of innovativeness in research model as beingpersonal innovativeness. According to results, users whoadopt an innovation earlier than others have higher levels ofpersonal innovativeness than others who do not [21]. Oneexperienced mobile service user commented on this in thefollowing way;

"I try new technologies immediately without waiting forany comments or experiences of others. I can call myselfan early adopter. This is one of the reasons why I amtrying many mobile services" (Female, ExperiencedUser, 27)

According to reference [38], "Attitudes may well havebeen developed towards a service, but attitudinal influenceseemed to require user experience". One of the intervieweescomment is as follows:

"After gaining experience in one service, I can easily useother new services. I want to explain this with anotherexample. I am accustomed to using Nokia phones' menustyle. Therefore, I can use new model ofNokia easily"(Female, Novice, 28)

The study of reference [19] is exploring the service usagebehavior. According to the findings, uniqueness motivation(differentiating him) is an important factor in serviceadoption. Users feel themselves unique and recognizable inpublic with services and provide a distinctive image [19]. Inaddition to these, high tech handset owners, who use onlyvoice and SMS capabilities, try to obtain distinctive image byobtaining advanced high phones. This is an importantresearch area. One participant mentioned the following aboutdifferentiation:

"Receiving customized messages on my cellphonemakes mefeel special and important" (Female,Experiences User, 24)

3) Other Categoriesa. EoU (Ease of Use)

According to interview findings, EoU (Ease of Use) has asignificant effect on attitude to use mobile services andservice usage. Especially, it is a more important factor formore experienced users and they have stressed on EoU

heavily. Also, all interviewees perceived that EoU is asignificant direct determinant of service usage which isconsistent with literature. Perceived ease of use and perceivedusefulness predict attitude towards use of an innovativetechnology [12].

One of the participants commented;"Ease of use and simple navigation are importantfeatures. The buttons of cellular phone are too small; Ican not easily use it and navigate between pages.Therefore, I prefer using internet via PC" (Female,Novice, 26)

Another participant commented on EoU as follows;"Remembering short service number may be difficultforusers. Therefore, one service number for all types ofinformation queries may be helpful, this makes serviceuse easier" (Female, Experienced User, 24)

b. UsefulnessBased on the responses of interviewees, Usefulness is

another strong factor in determining consumer attitude andsatisfaction. The interviewees noticed that they use theservices if they provide benefits to them. Earlier studies alsoconfirm the effect of usefulness on consumer satisfaction[12]. Davis's (1989) usefulness is similar to Rogers's (1993)relative advantage factor which influences attitude to use andhence satisfaction. Relative advantage means the degree towhich an innovation is perceived as better than the idea itsupersedes. Attitude towards use predicts the behavioralintention to use. Finally, intention predicts the actual use ofthat technology [12].

One experienced user stated the following aboutusefulness:

"I am using many informative services because they areuseful to me. For example; services like Find&Seek andnews provide benefits for my daily life" (Female,Experienced User, 24).

The same respondent has a horoscope subscription, too.Her comments about this service were very interesting. Shestated that;

"Every morning, horoscope information reaches to me. Iam not searching information about my horoscope onweb pages or any other places, it finds me and thesemessages make mefeelpleased. I alsofeel unique"

One novice user mentioned the following aboutusefulness:

"In my opinion, delivering usefulness and benefits aremost important usage factors for mobile services,especially for information-based services. The servicesshouldprovide short and compact information" (Female,Novice, 26)

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E. Comments on LBSLocation Based Services are heavily addressed and

discussed by experienced users during interviews and theyproposed some new LBS applications.

Location-Based Information/Directory servicesautomatically informs customer of location of nearestrestaurants, facilities, parking areas, etc. More specifically,LBS automatically enable businesses to provide timelypersonalized services that are location-specific [46]. Manymobile wireless product manufacturers (e.g. Compaq, Palm,Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia) as well as mobile computingand mapping software developers are entering thecompetitive market of LBS. First-generation location-basedservices have been deployed in Europe, on the Americancontinent, in Japan, throughout Asia and in Australia [9].

Examples are Location-Based Services (LBS) for wirelessnavigation, public services, city administration, traffic,personal entertainment and a host of business applications formobile government and enterprise workers. The prospects forlocation services are very exciting and promising. The currentlocation based services are also inquired during interviews tofind new adoption factors.

Comments specific to LBS are as follows:"I used location based Find&Seek service ofan operatorin Turkey. It gives location specific informationdepending on your cell position. After sending generalinformation about places, it gives detail informationabout your choice. I think it is a very useful service.However, it could be a little cheaper. Addition to thistype of informative services, location based games canbe very exiting. I would like to try them" (Female,Experienced User, 24)

"I frequently use Find&Seek service to find Pharmacylocations at nights. It gives address of pharmacycorrectly. I do not have to walk or drive around tofind it.It provides time effectiveness. I also imagine a featurewhich can be attached to the services. Location basedservices can be integrated with security cameras ofsomelocations" (Female, Experienced User, 27)

"I would like to take push messages from diferentbrands. These messages should provide benefits andopportunities depending on my real time position"(Male, Experienced User, 23)

"Location based traffic applications can be very useful.Depending on user location, it may provide the nearestopen route" (Male, Experiences User, 34)

V. CONCLUSION

Better services will be best developed by understandingthe requirements and needs of the users. In this paper, ourintention was to shed some light on the process of mobile

service adoption by investigating mobile services and theiradoption factors.

In this study, based on interview results, taxonomy hasbeen created. The interview data and comments present thatusefulness and ease of use are most important aspects inservice usage. On the other hand, service aspect is a moresignificant and dominant aspect than social aspect. In"service aspect" part, content and mobility are heavilystressed by interviewees. Social influences (externalinfluences, image etc) are more important than usercharacteristics in terms of social aspects.

Based on the findings, mobile service providers andoperators may focus on usefulness and ease of use features ofservices during new service development at first. Userswould like to receive value or benefit during service usageand they prefer easy-to-use services. Another implication isthe significance of mobile service content. Correctness,quality, relevance and delivery time of content are critical anddifferentiating factors for mobile services usage according tointerview results. Therefore, selection of content provider is acritical step in mobile service world. In addition to these,mobility factor should be taken into account during servicedevelopment and design.

This is a qualitative study which will be followed by acomprehensive quantitative study that will have a largersample size. For future study, according to these findings,adoption pattern of value added services will be assessed indepth. Furthermore, prototypes will be generated and testedby mobile service users. In order to capture the adoptionpattern, mobile service users will be observed during thetests, and surveys will be applied to them about design ofprototypes.

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PICMET 2007 Proceedings, 5-9 August, Portland, Oregon - USA © 2007 PICMET

APPENDIX

Interview Questions1. Do you follow technology closely? Do you use a

new technology, product or service right after itslaunch or do you wait until others use and adopt it?

2. In same medium, which do you prefer? Internet overPC or mobile phone? Why?

3. Did you use any mobile services? (Logo Melody,Chat, News Package etc.)

4. Which mobile service do you use at most? How longhave you been using this service? Do you rememberthe first mobile service you have used?

5. What do you think is the most important feature ofthe mobile service that makes it popular? Doesusage occur randomly, or consciously? Does it occurwillingly and in a planned way?

6. Is there any LBS you've used recently? What is themost favorite feature of this service? When and inwhich conditions and situations did you use it?

7. Do you feel comfortable using this service?8. Do you think this service adds value to your life?9. What other LBS applications or services would you

like to use?10. Is there any other new feature(s) you wish were

offered by any LBS?11. Any other comments?

3001