Factors Contributing to Low Usage of Mobile Data Services: User Requirements, Service Discovery and Usability

Abstract

There is evidence that most users do not exploit the capabilities offered by mobile data services. We propose that in addition to user requirements and usability, service discovery adds an extra dimension that may explain this lack of use. We conducted a 3-way evaluation study which combined expert evaluation, a diary study and cooperative evaluation to investigate the factors affecting low usage of data services. The task of selecting the appropriate service to solve everyday problems was demonstrated to be difficult using existing mobile services. The results indicated that service discovery plays a central role in determining user satisfaction and performance.