How Usability Improves Mobile Commerce - Essay Example

How Usability Improves Mobile Commerce Introduction The global state of technology is transforming day after day. The current wireless technology has posed a number of constraints that are meant to design the most effective consumer interface for mobile commerce applications. Relatively small display screens, the limited bandwidth and simple yet diverse functions of wireless gadgets such as mobile phones and portable computers greatly influence usability (Hyman, 2013). Users can easily access a number of wireless sites through various platforms in order to perform diverse tasks such as retrieval of information and transactions. An assessment of various effects that come with interaction with mobile devices and a thorough examination on the form factors, user tasks and the general purpose of these applications on the usability easily benefits the interface design in wireless applications. There are various definitions of mobile commerce which are meant to explore the probable benefits of wireless technology across the globe. Mobile commerce is deemed to be the use of the wireless technology, in particular the handled mobile gadgets alongside the mobile internet in order to facilitate the search of information, transactions and the user tasks in communications, businesses and intra enterprise (Bang, Lee, Han, Hwang & Ahn, 2013). Not only transactions are supported by mobile commerce applications, but also services such as interaction and value added. Thus, the wireless technology is promising to enhance business relationships and revolutionize electronic commerce in its full adoption in various business enterprises due to the forecasted solutions mobile gadgets can offer. Usability is currently receiving an increasing attention for mobile commerce since the acquisition and retention of customers for the online retail sites has a high cost. In this context, usability focuses on the features of the sites that enhance satisfactory online shopping. The study of usability on wireless or rather mobile applications is centered on the design constraints which are imposed by a limitation of bandwidth alongside the small display of handled gadgets. Thus, the direct access methods are more effective in retrieval of tasks with smaller screen displays. Ways through which usability improves mobile commerce There are a number of ways through which usability improves mobile commerce. These methods include the user tasks, presentation of content and the navigation system of the handled devices. 1. The User Tasks In the environment of mobiles, the users have sufficient time alongside the cognitive resources which facilitates performing of tasks. One of the greatest design issues that are linked to the wireless application of mobile commerce is the suitability of the user tasks. There are two major tasks which are associated with mobile commerce. The tasks include the retrieval of information task and the transactional tasks. The retrieval of information task refers to the task which solely involves the browsing and searching of information whereas the transaction tasks refers to the tasks that require the changes which are supposed to be made in particular databases (Gündüz & Pathan, 2013). A number of tasks are performed in specific two steps that exist between the wired channels and the wireless connections. For instance, a customer for a mobile commerce service such as eBay wants to register for an eBay account. The customer will register and confirm his or her email details from the same mobile device before submitting his or her bid from the same wireless gadget (Koenigstorfer & Groeppel-Klein, 2012) Moreover, the tasks in many sites which are specifically accessed through mobile devices are designed with the same steps as the ones available in their counterparts made for the PC access. These mobile tasks include news, travels, financial issues, and retails such as in eBay and Amazon which tend to provide rich contents that are identical to various web sites. The developers of the wireless applications such as the mobile commerce are challenged to create the interface which accommodates both the novice and expert users. A number of transaction tasks like the submission of bids for Amazon and eBay assume that users have experience with the available interface on the regular sites. Thus, the mobile commerce applications on mobile devices use simplified steps and instructions which are clear, particularly with the site having a deeper menu structures. Therefore, these simplified procedures enhance quick mobile transactions. The table below shows the two major user tasks alongside the websites category, the sites and the related user tasks: Tasks category Web sites category Wireless site Task Transaction task Travel United Air Line Flight booking Retail eBay Bidding or buying an item Retrieval of information transaction Financial e-trade Checking of stocks Portal Yahoo Searching for an item Travel United Air Line Check for the schedules of flights News ABC News Searching for the top or rather latest news Retail eBay Search for an item 2. Presentation of Content Previously, mobile computing faced the problem of restricted bandwidth. It was not possible to exchange large amounts of data between handled devices and the base station. Currently, most wireless sites have reduced information from their sites since it was excessive for a medium or smaller screen. Thus, the following steps which were taken to solve the problem of limited bandwidth have improved mobile commerce: To start with, reducing of information from the wireless regular sites have facilitated faster downloads of large amounts of data. Moreover, the wireless service is always reliable hence lengthy web page is no longer interrupted by a connection breakdown. Thus, the users of pocket PCs and the Palm handhelds browse various web sites with ease whereby large contents and images are involved. In addition, transaction tasks such as those that involve exchange of data in multiple screens (summary of accounts) used to disconnect along the way. However, the mobile commerce applications have made it easy for the large or rather lengthy pages of book reviews on Amazon site to be downloaded (Gündüz & Pathan, 2013). Secondly, lengthy or larger web pages require horizontal and vertical scrolling. Mobile commerce applications are designed in a way that they can support both horizontal and vertical scrolling in cases where large web pages are involved. The scrolling in mobile gadgets display screens accommodates all the contents from the web pages. Initially, mobile screens failed to display all the relevant contents whenever users tried to perform tasks from commercial sites. Thus, the WAP phones and the wireless Palm devices have been improved greatly to serve the current demands which are brought about by increasing online transactions (Gündüz & Pathan, 2013). Moreover, mobile devices have been designed in a manner to avoid information overload. For instance, the sequence of procedures or rather steps of booking flights online, checking and confirming the schedules of flights from a wireless site require lots of information from a page. The first step for users is to enter the code of the airport and not the name. The users who are unable to remember the airport code have to access or open another page in search for the code. It is clear that the system has lot of demands on the user and the device being used. Despite all these steps, the mobile application accommodates all the data being transferred from the sites. Most mobile users are likely to have unlimited time and access to various wireless sites. This is due to good organization of the information which is relevant for achieving efficiency. In most cases, the information available in many wireless applications is organized typically as the hierarchical structure which needs more time and efforts to connect to a specific server in order to open and download a specific page. Flatter structures which have fewer steps allow the users to asses and decide on more options available in a given step and later locate the appropriate information in lesser time. As a result, there is consistency in the findings of several studies on the usability of WAP. Simple hierarchies tend to reduce the screen scrolls due to direct links and the list of links which are more efficient (Popa, Avornicului & Besfelean, 2013). 3. The Navigation System of Mobile Devices Most wireless application users have at one point or the other browsed a number of web sites using internet. Thus, the best navigation systems of the wireless devices are those systems which are similar to the ones on web. Many current mobile devices are made up of platforms which support applications the same way the PC-based applications are supported. For instance, the Palm handled gadget have a few buttons that are used to access a number of built in applications like the calendar, address and the web browser. This device has two clickable buttons at the top of the screen which serve as the history display and the back function. The history list is displayed the same way as a regular web browser. Even though the gadget does not resemble the regular browser, its interface serves the same purpose as a regular browser (Lee & Kozar, 2012). On the other hand, a pocket PC provides a number of buttons which are meant to access some in built applications. Unlike the Palm, this gadget has a browser (internet explorer) which provides or rather performs the function of web browsing. The browser for this device performs exactly as the regular web browser, having similar look and features. The users who are familiar with the regular web browsers find it easy and convenient to use pocket PC’s browser thus no usability problems are encountered. The WAP phone has four keys which are used for browsing the web. Two of the keys perform the scrolling functions whereas the other two serve as the forward and back buttons. In addition, the same keys are used in situations where navigation hyperlinks are available to move from one page to the other in wireless sites. They select the hyperlink thus serving a totally different function (Zhou, & Lu, 2011). While navigating, handled gadgets give informative and prompt feedbacks. This goes alongside an indication of the page loading and downloads progress. This is convenient for individuals who regularly engage in online business as it facilitates quick access to the relevant web sites. Conclusion There are a number of aspects that revolve around the current wireless or rather mobile commerce. Usability being top on the list has greatly improved the commerce channels since the mobile devices which are used are primarily designed in order to support the users, subscribers or customers. Thus, the users can continue to access a set of internet services and the content which is available from different sites. New users or subscribers of various sites register for services so as to access all the features from the site. This implies that wireless sites aim at strengthening the customer loyalty and relationship. For the users to take full advantage of the sites that offer mobile commerce, the usability of these channels need to be improved significantly so as to improve the mobile commerce channels (Kahle-Piasecki, Chao, & Ariss, 2012). As discussed above, user tasks, presentation of content and the navigation system of mobile devices improve the mobile commerce. The content of the sites are designed to be displayed in shorter lengths, need minimal scrolling and provide a number of indications or signs of strength of signals, page loading and downloading progresses. The wireless or rather mobile technology offers a unique platform for the customers and respective sites because there is a possibility of tracking users and personalizing the site contents for various services. There is a relationship between mobile commerce and e-commerce since the adopters of electronic commerce are embracing the wireless services (mobile) which is adding value to online transactions. This suggests that it is crucial to coordinate the interface and user tasks which are presented by the electronic commerce alongside the mobile commerce sites. As much as the mobile commerce offers limited content as compared to the electronic commerce, the two share a number of features and interfaces with their regular sites. For instance, Amazon has a provision for a single click meant to place an order in the wireless purchase. References Bang, Y., Lee, D., Han, K., Hwang, M., & Ahn, J. (2013). Channel Capabilities, Product Characteristics, and the Impacts of Mobile Channel Introduction. Journal Of Management Information Systems, 30(2), 101-126. Gündüz, F., & Pathan, A. (2013). On the Key Factors of Usability in Small-sized Mobile Touch- Screen Application. 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