Mobile Application for Middle East Students in the UK - Research Paper Example

Mobile Application for Middle East Students in the UK Abstract Software applications or apps are the mainstay of mobile business communications. PC- and server-based applications are on the verge of becoming outdated. Businesses are increasingly integrating mobile and wireless options into their business processes to save time and improve performance. There is no doubt that mobile phones have now become a critical part of everybody’s life; they need it for connectivity, internet access, games, chatting and many other applications. It is also evident that a sizeable number of students from the Middle East have migrated to the United Kingdom for higher education. This paper justifies the development of a mobile application that would help these students identify restaurants with Halal food, accommodation agencies, their interest in Arab events, and their willingness to spend for these services. Table of Contents Justification of the Project 6 Design Pattern 11 Model Object 11 View Object 12 Controller Object 12 User Interface Design 13 Start view 13 Search Location View 14 Selected Options view 15 Settings view 16 Mobile Application for Middle East Students in UK Introduction Software applications or apps are the mainstay of mobile business communications (Highsmith, 2002, p.30). Apps refer to the smartphone programs used daily in composing e-mails, updating calendars, editing documents and collaborating with colleagues. Nearly all smartphones have basic messaging apps such as SMS (text messaging), contact lists, e-mail, and calendars with room for downloading many other apps to customize the mobile business experience (Lacohee, Wakeford & Pearson, 2003, p.208). In order to conduct business successfully both within and outside the office, it is crucial to have a shared set of productivity tools. Windows Mobile is a popular operating system for smartphone due to its ability to run native versions of PowerPoint, Microsoft Word and Excel. Other phones rely on third party apps that allow users to edit and view Microsoft Office documents. Examples of such phones are QuickOffice and DataViz's Documents-to-Go. In addition, IT departments can customize smartphones into running applications related to “line of business” via the network, for instance, health records, workflow management, shipping and logistics management as well as other industry-specific software (Litchfield, 2010, n.p.). With appropriate applications, smartphones can act as powerful organizers. Pocket Informant is one of the popular contacts and calendar apps. The advantage of Pocket Informant over built-in calendar apps is its ability to provide a clear organization of complex schedules. Pocket Informant also enables one to view all the e-mails, notes and appointments for each contact in the address book (Williams & Pence, 2011, p.680). ReQall which is a new app that allows busy road-warriors to create to-do lists and calendar entries using easy voice commands. Through management of a complex network of contacts for business, only a small number of online services can beat LinkedIn that provide a native app for iPhone and before long for the Blackberry. Videoconferencing and online collaboration are a boon to both national and international companies. Many powerful apps extend the online collaboration tools to the smartphone. Cisco's WebEx Meeting Center for iPhone and the Blackberry allows one to take part in online conference as either a participant or a presenter. It allows for sharing of documents, viewing of PowerPoint presentations and IM together with various participants while teleconferencing via the smartphone (Liu & Hwang, 2010, P.E5). Another iPhone app is iShare which provides access to firm’s Microsoft SharePoint server to update workflows and collaborate on documents. Encamp for iPhone is an app of smartphone that enables access to Basecamp project management workflows as well as shared documents (Highsmith, 2002, p.30). Stakeholder Analysis and Target Market, Size Of Market, Competitor Products According to VisitBritain, the national tourism agency, the number of students Middle East origin opting to study at one of the higher education colleges or universities in UK has doubled in the last two years. The data from the British Council show that over 13, 500 students from GCC countries pursued higher education courses in the UK between the years 2008 and 2009, marking an 18% percent increase on the previous year. Figures from UEA reveal that about 2, 800 students, out of which 1,120 were Emirati nationals, decided to study in the UK within the same year, marking a 16% increase. Business Case (Benefits, Income, Costs, Risks) Benefits PC- and server-based applications are on the verge of becoming outdated. Businesses are increasingly integrating mobile and wireless options into their business processes to save time and improve performance. There is no doubt that mobile phones have now become a critical part of everybody’s life; they need it for connectivity, internet access, games, chatting and many other applications. In fact people are opting for smart phones so that they hold everything in the palms of their hands. Mobile applications allow businesses to continue without any interference, irrespective of the location (Wang, Wu & Wang, 2009, p.98). Latest Mobile Applications 1. Chase Mobile Application: This is available for blackberry, android, iPhone and iPad smart phones. The application is useful for personal, commercial as well as business purposes. Users are able to monitor their personal transaction history, account balances, credit card amount and payment date, investments, insurance, loans and online banking. 2. GPS Systems: Though not the only, GPS systems are the primary means of determining the location of a handset. Wi-Fi and cell ID systems are vital in situations where GPS do not operate. They help users in keeping a track of their locations. Routing technology or GPS technology integrated in smart phones with digital cameras allows users to ‘geo-tag' pictures from the cameras. GPS is an important application that permits sending of data as they are in the real world. 3. Social Media: The explosion of social media provides a network of activities that continue even after leaving the computer. Thus, one can now update them through mobile phone. Different social media applications such as Tweetie, Flickr, eBuddy, Foursquare, Gowalla, You Tube, Qype, Facebook, Yelp among many others, are currently available for all smartphones including blackberry, android, windows 7 as well as other Apple devices. They make it possible to remain connected and share information among business associates and friends within minutes (Turkle, 2011, p.190). Benefits of Mobile Phone Applications to business and social life 1. Efficient Work Flow and Tracking: It is easier to do reporting by use of mobile applications as opposed to making it through emails or manually. 2. Desktop Versions can be done on Mobiles: Rather than spending a lot of time accessing an application via desktop, one can download it to the mobile phone and access it within seconds. 3. Anytime and Anywhere: There is no need to look for internet access as the mobile phone allows for this access at anytime and anywhere. 4. Ease of Application: The mobile phone enables one to complete tasks and to even make payments via various mobile phone applications. 5. Stress Releasing Games: The mobile phone has games besides other applications that can help one relieve stress and anxiety (Evans, 2009, 100). Justification of the Project From the background information above, it is evident that there is a sizeable number of students from the Middle East who have migrated to the United Kingdom for higher education (Hwang, Wu & Chen, 2007, p.3). This section justifies the development of a mobile application that would help these students identify restaurants with Halal food, accommodation agencies, their interest in Arab events, and their willingness to spend for these services (Caverly, Ward & Caverly, 2009, p.39). In order to justify the need and suitability of the proposed mobile application, research was done among 50 Middle East students in the Manchester Metropolitan University. The objective of this survey was determining the possibility of requiring a mobile application to help the students settle in the United Kingdom. The survey involved 5 questions whose responses are as below. 1. Is it necessary to eat Halal food? Yes No The first question sought to understand whether student from Middle East consider eating Halal food necessary. The results of these responses indicate that 80% of the respondents consider it necessary to consume Halal food. Therefore, they are willing to do what it takes to secure the access to Halal food; even if it means installing a mobile application in their mobile phones that aids them do so (El-Hussein & Cronje, 2010, 15). 2. If so, is it hard to find restaurants that provide Halal food? Yes No The second question was meant to interrogate further on the necessity of the mobile application by evaluating whether the students from Middle East find it hard to locate restaurants that offer Halal food. From the responses to this question, 74 % of the Middle East students in Manchester acknowledge that there is a difficulty in locating restaurants that offer Halal food. This feedback is another reason behind the decision to develop a mobile application that aids these students settle in the UK (Harley, Winn, Pemberton & Wilcox, 2007, p.230). 3. When you first came to the UK, did you face any difficulties finding a suitable accommodation? Yes. No. The third question sought to know if the Middle East students encountered any difficulty in finding the suitable accommodation up on their arrival in the United Kingdom. The responses to this question favours the development of a mobile application that offers information on accommodation agencies because 76% of the respondent encountered difficulty in finding the suitable accommodation. 4. Are you interested in getting informed about events, prayer times, and mosque locations? Yes. No. This question evaluated whether the students from Middle East are interested in getting informed about Arab events in the region. 85% of the respondents agreed that they would like to be informed about these events. 5. How much are you willing to pay for an application that could help you settle down throughout your stay in the UK? 50p _ £1.00 £1.50 _ £2.00 £2.00 _ £3.00 Finally, as part of seeking to know whether the product under development will generate sufficient revenue, students were asked about the amount they were willing to spend to use an application that assists them in settling down. A majority of them, 55%, is willing to pay a price of between £2.00 - £3.00 for the service, while 25% are willing to pay between £1.00 and £2.00. Only 20% are willing to pay between 50p and £1.00 as illustrated in the pie chart below. Based on the aforementioned needs of Middle East students in Manchester metropolitan university, the team has resorted to developing a mobile application that would assist the students stay abreast with the prayer times and locations, location and services of Halal food restaurants, locations and names of accommodation agencies, emergency contacts and the public library services. The availability of this information in mobile electronic gadgets will make the life of the foreign students easy and comfortable (CourseSmart, 2011, n.p.). The responses to questionnaires have indicated that the majority of students from the Middle East are willing to spend above one pound for the services that would help them settle down in their stay in the UK. With these considerations and the fact that every foreign student has a smart phone or mobile smart gadget, the development of mobile application for deployment on such existing products is not only viable but also has a high potential of growth in future (Alexander, 2011, n.p.). Outlined here below are the features of the proposed application whose platform is the already existing network provided by such existing service providers as EE, O2, Vodafone, and 3. • Design - screen layout, features, logical use The acceptability of any mobile application among the target consumer is its ability to deliver the desired information regarding the location of Halal restaurants, library, prayer times, and accommodation services agencies (Hanson, 2011, p.8). Therefore, the following design features illustrate how the application will help the user through an interactive user interface. The proposed name of application is ‘NevigateMan’ implying the capability of the application in helping the users navigate the city of Manchester easily and at accurate timing. Design Pattern The design of ‘NevigateMan’ follows a MVC design pattern (Model-View-Controller), which divides the mobile application into three independent clusters of interacting classes. The argument behind this MVC design pattern is to distribute the compound application in small, manageable parts as a way of simplifying design process (Goh & Kinshuk, 2006, p.180). The three different objects of MVC design pattern adopted for this mobile application proposal are described below. Model Object The model object encompasses data encapsulation of all instance variables required for the object. The model object of the design pattern is highly reusable and has initialization techniques of returning the instances to other classes of the design. In essence, the model object carries the logic and application data required to return the desired output. In this case, the desired outputs are all information pertaining to the location and time for the Middle East students. In the ‘NevigateMan’ design, the model object is a location of a desired Halal restaurant, library information, and location of accommodation agencies, and emergency contacts for Middle East embassies in the UK (Wilson & McCarthy, 2010, p.220). View Object The view object in the MVC model will be used to display the model object data. Any output seen on the screen of mobile phone is the view object of the pattern. The most important role of this view object is displaying the information as per the commands sent by the user. It also serves as an input position whereby the user is able to make decisions of suitable options by such interactions as touch and input. Controller Object The controller object in the pattern acts as an intermediary between the view objects and model objects. The controller object is responsible for calling the suitable techniques in the model for updating the model database. It is also responsible for sieving the appropriate information for delivery to the display. The figure below illustrates the interaction between the core elements of the MVC pattern adopted for ‘NevigateMan’ mobile application. Figure 1MVC Design Pattern The MVC pattern allows for the reusability of objects because they are split and operate independently from the interference of subsidiary objects. It is extremely useful in the expansion of the program to accommodate emerging needs. The understanding of operating concepts and development of this application is eased because the models and views are decoupled. User Interface Design From the knowledge gained after study and comparing some of the existing mobile Apps in the iPhone Apps store and online vendor sites, the first draft of the interactive user interface has been designed for the sake of this proposal. The user interface under consideration in this project is the view section in the conventional MVC model for mobile applications as described above. The most fundamental consideration in the design of this user interface is the simplicity and elegance. The view must be easy to understand and does not have complicated, heavy graphics that would demand more storage space and high charges sequentially (Highsmith, 2002, p.30). Start view Using power point, we managed to make a rough drawing of the start view. When launching the application, the start view will be set as the default screen displayed to the user. At the bottom, there will be a tab bar where it will allow the user to toggle to settings and location query list directly. For easy change to other views, the tab bar will be visible when the application is active. Start view will be displaying the items that are added by the user to the list in the application. For every item in the list, its quantity and unit field is displayed in brackets. At the end of each item, a disclosure button (>) is available which is notifying that there is a new view. This view is generated by choosing the button. This view has made is easier for a user to move to the search location view by making a selection on the add button which is located to the top right corner in the navigation bar. Just below the navigation bar there is a search bar placed there which is used to find anything within the application. A categorical view bar is added below the items list. Among the 4 buttons, 3 buttons are used for categorical viewing. The 3 tabs in the categorical viewing included fridge, pantry, and freezer. If the user choose one category .e.g. fridge, a list will be generated with items that are only stored in the fridge. A sort button is available where it helps the user to determine the arrangement of the list from the two available options. 1. Sort by input date 2. Sort by alphabetical order (this is the default setting of the sort button.) The left swipe gesture is extremely common in iPhones is used to delete items from the list. The delete button is brought up using the left swipe gesture. Through the application, the user can automatically add items in the list, making it grow bigger and more detailed. After every iteration review, some design suggestions and comment were taken in since we use an agile method. The relevant changes were carried out after the iterations. This will result with some differences in the final view which will have more feature than displayed here, and its usability will be enhanced. Search Location View The add item view purpose is to make changes to the at home list and the shopping list by adding items. The choice of using the same view for both lists is to avoid confusion by the user because of the different views. Real user input will be in the ‘Search Location’ view and hence it considered being the most crucial view. The user will not find it amusing if he or she is made to touch the screen a number of times to get what he or she wants. Text field fro name, location, and access routes have buttons below them for the user to choose where to store them. A list is added to try and make the process faster which contains items matching the current characters entered by the user. This idea is the same as the one used when starting to type in an URL in any browser. The user automatically fills in the corresponding item by clicking on the list to the name text field. An improvement of this idea was introduced by having items being fetched from a database which will have all fields required. A thorough explanation of this idea will be done during the implementation stage. The main idea behind this idea is to use less effort in entering items as opposed to a manual operation. This is the distinctive feature of the application when comparing with the existing similar applications in the market. A save button on the right and a cancel button on the left had been included in the navigation bar. The save button save items in the at home or shopping list depending on, where the add button is chosen. The cancel button is used to abort the adding process. The edit item view is shown in figure 4b. From the ‘at home’ list, the edit view is shown by clicking on the disclosure button or item name. The edit item shows the item name, unit, and quantity of a corresponding item and can be edited and saved later. Selected Options view Selected Options view is generated by clicking on the second tab on the tab bar. It will display all items that had been added by the user. The Selected Options view list is extremely similar to the view of the Start view list. The difference between the selected options list and the start list may be the behavior when an item is clicked and the different buttons in the bottom toolbar. A tick mark appears when the user click on an item in the shopping list indicating the item has been bought. When an option has been selected, it moves on the bottom of the list leaving the unselected options items on the top. Only by clicking on the unselected items again will the item be brought back on top. Sharing the information with other students from Middle East is extremely crucial (Dean, 2010, n.p.). A ‘send to’ button is added to open the default mail application or social network plug-in where the user can interact with other users. A user is expected to enter an email address or username of the recipient and the location details will be shared. After searching locations, the user can use the delete button and move button to move items to ‘Start’ list. Options provided by clicking the delete button are 1. Delete all the items in the list 2. Delete only the selected options Settings view An unpretentious setting tab was designed to make it user friendly. The main aim is to set user preference and some unique features like ‘resetting’ the application. The reset button when clicked is used to reset the ‘Start’ list. This was crucial for the user to empty everything before leaving Manchester (Highsmith, 2002, p.30). Reference List Alexander, A., 2011. How Reliant are College Students on Smartphones? [online] Available at: [29 November 2012]. Caverly, D., Ward, A. and Caverly, M., 2009. Techtalk: Mobile Learning and Access. Journal of Developmental Education, 33(1), p.38-39. CourseSmart. 2011. 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