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Paper

Turning Possibilities into Practicality

An inside look at how aligning technology with user needs makes 3G applications more accessible and beneficial.

Reading time: approx. 5 minutes

Contextual Design
Corporate Usability
Design Thinking
Digital Innovation
Experience Design
Mobile Application Design
User Research & Need Analysis

The development of 3G services and applications is driven by the fascination with technical feasibility. However, designing useful applications and profitable business models necessitates a strong focus on users' needs. Practical methods that account for customer needs in the early phases of the research and development process are currently lacking. The system-design approach provides the potential to analyze the possibilities and requirements of a mobile communication system, offering innovative, need-oriented, and market-oriented product and service concepts for 3G.

Need-Oriented Product Development in the Mobile Business

The exact application fields of third-generation mobile technology (3G)—the path to the "wireless information society"—have been primarily outlined from the aspect of technical feasibility. The Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS or IMT-2000) is the technical standard that enhances mobile communication flexibility, enabling higher data transmission rates, improved quality of service, and packet-based data communication. While these advances open a wide range of application possibilities, the usability for customers, especially end-consumers, often remains a secondary concern. Maximizing profit through temporary monopolistic positions achieved by technical leadership, as seen in technology-push models, can overshadow a deep understanding of user needs. However, profitable diversification in the competition for customers requires an awareness of user needs and future demands.

Communication as a System

Communication is a central component of daily life, with various definitions and models developed over decades. Early models emphasized the transmission of knowledge and cognition, supplemented by a common code understood by both sender and receiver. Shannon and Weaver’s linear communication model, developed in 1948, laid the foundation for modern information and communication systems. This model, focusing on message transmission, is particularly suitable for designing practical system models for mobile communication. An understanding of these models informs the formulation of user demands and requirements in mobile communication, enabling system designers to develop need-oriented applications.

Structuring the Technological Potential and User Needs

Understanding the System of Mobile Communication

Current 3G application development often prioritizes technical feasibility, resulting in applications emerging from coincidence or the simple adaptation of Internet and GSM services. This approach can lead to fragmented, individual ideas rather than integrated system concepts, making users feel like “guinea pigs” for untested technology. While the theoretical potential of 3G is vast, the challenge lies in reducing this variety to an intuitive level for users. Providers must offer flexible, integrated modular systems that enhance users’ quality of life and work, as this is what clients ultimately value and will pay for.

Possibility-System of Mobile Communication

Within the Possibility-System, technological potentials of mobile telecommunication technologies are analyzed from the user's perspective, divided into three subsystems: Mobility, Data, and Communication. Each subsystem examines specific factors:

  • Mobility involves potentials resulting from the flexibility and movement of system elements.

  • Data focuses on various data types that can be transmitted over multiple channels.

  • Communication details different constellations of participants and processes, such as point-to-point, multi-point, and any-point communications. Communication relations can be asynchronous (e.g., email, voicemail) or synchronous (e.g., phone call, chat), and processes are either content-oriented or transmission-oriented.

This system approach logically and reasonably reduces the variety of technological possibilities, providing a structured framework for qualifying and positioning application fields.

Requirement-System of Mobile Communication

The Requirement-System centers on the user and aims to establish widely accepted parameters for developing need-oriented applications in mobile communication. This system considers user types, communication processes, and the respective place and time aspects of usage. The parameters—User, Place, Process, and Time—are further subdivided into detailed elements that include individual user types, specific communication contexts, environmental influences, life and business processes, and temporal elements. These parameters support a structured evaluation and positioning of new services and applications based on user needs.

Identifying and Assessing Application Fields through
Systemic Design

Systemic Application Identification

The Systemic Application Identification method translates 3G technology potentials into profitable, need-oriented applications and services by selecting criteria like user type, process, place, and time. Application scenarios are then designed and visualized, considering user integration to identify needs and evaluate potential solutions. This process combines the Possibility-System and the Requirement-System to create a complete framework for identifying relevant application fields.

Inclusion of Potential Users—Didactive User Interaction

User acceptance is essential for the success of new applications, and this is examined through didactive interaction, a method rooted in Socratic questioning. This approach uses skillful questioning to uncover hidden knowledge about the relationships between needs and products, leading to new realizations by the interviewees themselves. This discursive method is more effective than standardized interviews or classical market studies for identifying user needs and preferences. Maieutic interviews involve decision questions and wh-questions, providing deeper insights into user needs and transferring these insights into functional application systems.

Assessing the System-Design Approach for 3G

The maieutic system analysis method anticipates and assesses user needs, supporting the identification of suitable application fields for new technologies. The developed generic system model of mobile communication, constructed from a user perspective, serves as a knowledge base that integrates social and technical insights, guiding the creation of market- and customer-focused product and service concepts. The system-design approach has been validated through the assessment of four 3G service concepts by mobile business experts, who focused on market potential and need-orientation.
An example of a practical application is the BusinessCall scenario. Traditional call establishment processes often disrupt the recipient’s routine, with limited information provided through caller line identification. Using 3G technology, individual information can be transmitted during call establishment, allowing the recipient to prepare before accepting, rejecting, or redirecting the call. For instance, a business partner can inform a colleague about a delayed arrival while en route, enhancing communication efficiency and user control.

Conclusion

Integrating User-Centered Design for Market Success

Detailed knowledge of human behavior and the contexts of daily life and work is essential for understanding future market potentials. The system-design approach incorporates user needs early in the research and development process, fostering human-centered, innovative product development while minimizing R&D risks. By emphasizing a balance between technological potential and user orientation, the system-design method lays a foundation for creating meaningful and profitable 3G applications that resonate with users and support the transition to a wireless information society.

Published in

COTIM-2001 Proceedings From E-Commerce to M-Commerce

Year

2001

Authors

Oliver Gerstheimer, Christian Lupp

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