They call it “surfing” for a reason:
Identifying mobile Internet needs through PC deprivation.
Rachel Hinman hinman@adaptivepath.com
Mirjana Spasojevic mirjana.spasojevic@nokia.com
Pekka Isomursu pekka.isomursu@nokia.com
April, 2008 1

1. Why we used deprivation as a methodology
2. Two design implications derived from research findings
- Design for partial attention and interruption
- People want information, not URLs
April, 2008 2

Deprivation as a methodology
A lot has changed in a year….
Android Release:
November 5, 2007
iPhone Release
June 29, 2007
April, 2008 3

Deprivation as a methodology
Spring 2007, few people were using the mobile web…
Source: Forrester’s Consumer Technographics, Q4, 2006
April, 2008 4

Deprivation as a methodology
There were, and continue to be many barriers to use
Obstacles to mobile internet use:
- phone’s interface makes it difficult to enter URL
- text input through keys
- network speed/latency
- network reception
- small screen size
- perception of cost (perceived value)
- lack of cost transparency
- sites are not optimized for mobile phones
Carriers are the set-point
Few people stray from the walled garden of the
carrier deck. What’s outside of it is hard to get to
get to and not always worth the effort.
April, 2008 5

Deprivation as a methodology
Mobile internet… meet your competition
73% of all American homes have in-home internet access
Source: Pew Internet: Internet Penetration and Impact. April 26, 2006
April, 2008 6

Low engagement
April, 2008 7

How do we ensure engagement?
April, 2008 8

Deprivation as a methodology
Inspiration from a PC deprivation study
http://webevents.broadcast.com/yahoo/disconnected/index.html
April, 2008 9

Deprivation as a methodology
Eight users, four days, nothing but a mobile phone for
Internet access …
The goal of our study was to identify the
needs of the Mobile Internet users in the U.S.
in order to improve the mobile internet
experience.
• 8 individuals (US - San Francisco)
• 4 days of PC internet deprivation
Data Collection
• 1-hour contextual interview before the study
• 2-hour contextual interview after the study
• Online diary tool (Revelation)
N-series phones: four N80 and four N93. • PC Internet vouchers
Both types of phones were equipped with a
T9 keypad, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi network
capability, 3 megapixel camera, 176x144 Data Analysis
pixel resolution color screen and Internet • Narrative analysis
browsing functions and capabilities.
• Affinity clustering
April, 2008 10

Implication One:
Design for partial attention
and interruption
April, 2008 11

Emerging Insight
User’s mobile internet expectations and requirements are
different than on a PC
“They call it surfing for a reason..”
- Gabriella
While most users communicated that internet
access on their mobile device was a useful
feature, they expressed fundamental differences
in the experiences.
April, 2008 12

Emerging Insight
Form factor, environmental factors and visual cues of the
PC internet experience facilitate exploration…
}
Form and Environmental factors
of the PC experience:
- usually seated (stationary)
- controlled environment
- large screen
- keyboard and mouse
Exploration
Typical visual cues of the PC A large screen with easy-to-use input
experience: devices in a controlled environment
- layers are visually represented encourages multi-tasking and
- visual representations of paths and exploration.
options are apparent at all times
April, 2008 13

Emerging Insight
Form factors, environmental factors and visual cues of the
mobile internet experience facilitate predictability…
}
Form and Environmental factors
of the mobile experience:
- standing, walking, seated…
- highly variable environment
- small screen
- limited input
Predictability
Typical visual cues of the mobile A small screen with limited input
experience: in a highly variable environment
- options are not always apparent requires focus and attention.
- open application consumes screen
- one view at a time
April, 2008 14

Emerging Insight
Accessing the internet on a PC is like scuba diving;
accessing the internet on a mobile phone is like snorkeling
Deep Dives Skimming the Surface
- The “action” is inside the screen - Attention is divided - dipping in and dipping out
- Can be immersive - Difficult to get totally immersed
- Invites exploration and discovery - Often highly task or goal directed, you often know
- Multi-tasking is easier than on a mobile device what you will find.
April, 2008 15

Implication
Design for partial attention and interruption
Design with interruption in mind
Understand the limitations of content consumption on a
mobile device. Users can be interrupted at any time by the
physical environment, a text message from a friend or an
important call.
Design for “skimming the surface”
Valuable mobile experiences are not immersive, they respect
the variability of the mobile environment. Map content to the
variability of the mobile environment and deliver it in
appropriate forms that are predictable.
April, 2008 16

Implication Two:
People want information,
not URLs
April, 2008 17

Emerging Insight
The page metaphor is a brittle organizing principle
on mobile devices
April, 2008 18

Emerging Insight
Remember the mix tape?
April, 2008 19

Emerging Insight
Music consumption and delivery use to be
a complex system…
Music Artists
Record Stores
Music Labels
Organizing Principle = Album
Portable CD
Players
Before iTunes, the delivery of music content was a complex system
that didn’t reflect what people value most about music… a song.
April, 2008 20

Emerging Insight
Apple provided a flexible organizing principle for music
April, 2008 21

Emerging Insight
Apple reframed the organizing principle to align with how
people think about music
Music Artists
Record Stores
Apple iTunes Store
Music Labels
Organizing Principle = Song
Portable CD Players
Apple iPod
April, 2008 22

Emerging Insight
When people access the web, the organizing principle is
web pages, or web sites -- but they really want the
information
Information
Photos & Video
News
Maps
Music
Organizing Principle =
Web Page
Messages
April, 2008 23

Emerging Insight
When people access the web, the organizing principle is
web pages, or web sites -- but they really want the
information
A web page A piece of information
is like an album is like a song Information
Photos & Video
News
Maps
Music
Organizing Principle =
Web Page
Messages
April, 2008 24

Implication Two
People want information, not URLs
Boulders to Pebbles: Privilege XML over HTML
The promise of information convergence depends on liberating data
from current forms and the ability to prism internet data through
various devices. The data is the building block, not the format it is
held in.
Focus on the presentation layer
The browser metaphor and web pages are strongly tied to the
current PC internet experience. Creating a new presentation layer
for information through interfaces like widgets and RSS present an
opportunity to define a new way of interacting with internet content
through a mobile device.
April, 2008 25

Conclusions and Further Study
Deprivation as a methodology - Was it a good idea?
[+] Ensured engagement for 7 of the 8 users
[+] Delivered visceral stories about what was wrong with the interaction model
[+] Delivered better insight on desired content and format preferences.
[-] VERY Labor intensive
Further Study
- What are other instances when deprivation is an appropriate methodology?
- What metaphors and mental models from the PC experience need to be redefined for the
mobile experience?
April, 2008 26

Thank You
Nokia:
Pekka Isomursu pekka.isomursu@nokia.com
Mirjana Spasojevic mirjana.spasojevic@nokia.com
Nokia
Adaptive Path:
Alexa Andrezejewski alexa@adaptivepath.com
Sebastian Heycke sebastian@adaptivepath.com
Kim Lenox kim@adaptivepath.com
Dan Saffer dan@adaptivepath.com
April, 2008 27

Questions?
April, 2008 28