September 20, 2005
Research Discovers That Phones Are Phones
Only 17% of those with a mobile use their phone for anything other than to make calls or send text messages on a daily basis, avoiding the more complex features available according to research conducted in the UK from Mobeon, reports 160characters.org.
"Mobeon concludes that, although the services may be clearly explained in accompanying manuals, users often do not understand the purpose of additional services and therefore do not feel any need to learn how to use them.
According to Mobeon, other causes of this low take-up include poor market introduction and a reliance on the technical manual to communicate with the end-user. Poor usability, resulting in the consumer giving up on getting to grips with the service is also a key factor.
One example of the slow rate of adoption is the fact that just a third of the 15-24 year age bracket, the group that operators regard as ‘early adopters', take advantage of more complex services on a daily basis.
The research also found that only half of all adults feel that operators understand what features customers actually want. This figure decreases with each age group. Only 23% of those aged over 55 believe that the carriers understand their needs."
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