visiongain intelligence: A Better UI is Needed to Drive New Mass-Market Services

visiongain intelligence has a new report that finds "with mobile phones becoming increasingly complex and crammed with features, the mobile industry still lacks a standard user interface (UI) that can drive the mass-market appeal of new services." The firm estimates that "a robust and customisable UI is one of the key elements that will drive worldwide data ARPU from $5 in 2005 to $22 by 2011, helping operators attract users towards advanced services such as video messaging and instant messaging presence services (IMPS)."

Prachi Nema at visiongain said, "The wireless industry must offer compelling UI propositions to subscribers so that the latent demand of data services can be converted into full demand. Our research suggests that the user experience with data services can be enhanced through an intuitive UI. However, due to fragmentation, the existence of several technologies, platforms and devices, delivering a consistent and intuitive UI to subscribers has become a challenging task for network operators."

Nema added, "Ideally, the UI should attract subscribers to use applications by following simple steps, without having to read manuals or go through training. We believe that the UI must be coherent, ie, logical, consistent, and one that can be easily followed. We also believe the problem of revenue leakage is avoidable through customised and enhanced UI platforms that can be ported across the entire device portfolio. However, the user experience is not just derived through network capabilities or handset design, its software or its hardware alone, but through the holistic experience delivered by all components of the handset and the network itself.