Today saw the launch of the Apple iPhone 5, the first device to feature Apple's new mapping application pre-installed. However, iOS 6 was released for other Apple devices a few days earlier, and when installed, replaced Google Maps with Apple's new mapping application.

iOS 6 maps brings new features to the iPhone, including turn-by-turn navigation. While there have been many positive experience reported on iOS 6 Maps, there have also been a significant volume of criticism in the press and on social media sites of missing towns, poorly rendered imaging, inaccurate routing and out of date information. A blog has even been set up where users can take a screen shot of such issues - The Amazing iOS 6 Maps (The Apple iOS 6 Maps are Amazing. Not.)

Source: http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/post/31927907199/left-apple-map-on-iphone-4s-right-google-map-on

SA research has found that maps and navigation are one of the most used features by smartphone users. 66% of iPhone users in the US and Western Europe report using maps on their phone on a weekly basis. Users also place a high value on a map/navigation application compared to other apps.

So what are the alternatives? There are many map and navigation applications available to download to the iPhone, although not the one they are familiar with - Google Maps - which they can now only access via the iPhone's web browser. However, the well-known and well-trusted navigation apps generally come with a hefty price tag.

Switching to another platform is also an option. Nokia has invested heavily in mapping, and both Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive on the Lumia series of devices provide an excellent experience, including indoor maps. Android also provides a viable alternative through embedded Google Maps which supports the turn-by-turn navigation and street view functions that iPhone users are familiar with.

However, our recent research into consumer attachment to the mobile platform of their choice suggests that dissatisfaction with specific features - even those as important and valued as mapping - is unlikely by itself to drive more than a few iOS devotees to switch to a new platform due to their concerns about losing access to apps and content associated with their current device and the requirement to learn a new, unfamiliar UI.

In the short-term the implementation of turn-by-turn navigation is being overshadowed by mapping glitches and backlash regarding features that are no longer supported. In the long run, Apple will address these issues and the current outcry will be largely forgotten. What the company will gain is control over its own map app, which will allow it to provide deeper location integration and more compelling location services.

- Paul Brown

Consumers find value in applications that are convenient, useful and used on a daily basis, while also finding value in apps that fulfill their social and entertainment needs. Strategy Analytics’ Wireless Media Lab recently undertook individual interviews and focus groups with 35 smartphone owners in the US investigating application discovery and defining app quality, and found that consumers do not want applications that are slow, causing glitches within their mobile device or apps that run advertisements and send spam.

With the abundant amount of applications available, consumers find it imperative to only download quality apps. Most consumers define a quality app as:

• Stable and glitch free
• Runs smoothly and quickly
• Easy to use and simple
• Useful
• Functions as expected
• Visually appealing

The research also found that consumers visit a mobile application store a few times per week, with most visiting the app store to search for any updates available for any current downloaded apps, to check to see the featured and top apps at the time or to see if there are any new applications that have been released since their last visit.

Consumers in this study have less than half of the applications downloaded remaining on their device today, with most deleting apps if they find a different app that provides the same functions but in a more efficient way, or the app becomes obsolete and useless to their day-to-day needs.

Strategy Analytics’ research has shown that over 80% of all applications downloaded are free, with the majority of participants having paid for less than 10% of the total number of applications they have downloaded. For apps to hold any monetary value to the consumer, app developers must provide an app that is unique, of good quality and used by the consumer on a daily basis. The application must offer a unique feature that offers a compelling user experience, unlike anything they can receive anywhere else.

For the full report, including, importance of mobile app store features, how consumers discover new apps, consumer activity when visiting an app store, consumer thoughts on profiling and the Facebook App Center, use of apps on tablets and apps and switching operating systems, click here: Consumers Find Highest Value in Mobile Apps that are Convenient and Useful (subscription required)

- Taryn Tulay

Our Wireless Media Lab team is undertaking focus groups and design ideation sessions this week in London on the subject of Enhanced Mobile Messaging.  Listening to the discussion last night, what I found especially interesting was to hear the heavy messengers we had recruited explain why they use messaging applications such as WhatsApp, BBM and even basic SMS.

It seems that increasingly, messaging is not just about communicating information.  The participants all said that the ability to communicate via sending pictures, links and voice attachments is becoming more and more important to them.  Beyond this, they frequently told us that their messaging apps are an important way to keep up with what friends are doing and even a way to handle boredom by reviewing what others have sent or posted.  To them, the lines between one-to-one and one-to-many messaging are becoming increasingly blurred.

When we asked these users to come up with new ideas for messaging services, many of their concepts expressed some key themes:

• the desire for more control over presence and status
• the ability to message via voice and switch between voice/text
• the desire for intelligence and context awareness (especially related to location), and
• the importance of small group communications (e.g. on the basis of shared interests with particular friends)

However, despite all of the advanced communications tools and capabilities that these consumers have at their fingertips, when asked which messaging service they would keep if they could choose only one, every person said SMS.  Why? Because it is the only truly ubiquitous mobile messaging protocol – i.e. capable of reaching everyone.

Our report on the motivations, needs and behaviors of mobile messaging users will be available to Wireless Media Lab clients in due course.

- Kevin Nolan

Update: 3 October 2011 - The full report, Mobile Messaging: Consumer Behaviors around Text Messaging and Over-The-Top Messaging Applications, is now available for WML clients or to purchase.  Paul Brown

In April this year Strategy Analytics? Wireless Media Lab undertook a benchmark evaluation of the recently launched Amazon App Store - Amazon Appstore Provides Excellent User Experience but App Purchase Process a Major Concern - with a number of existing smartphone owners. One of the questions we posed to participants was whether they thought the Amazon App Store could change the way they think about purchasing applications.

This week I was working on a different project and was chatting to a participant who came to the study in April, and who had just started using the Amazon App Store back then. For this particular participant, the Amazon App Store had changed his behaviour.

Prior to the session, he had the Amazon App Store icon on one of his secondary homescreens. This participant already knew about a number of features the app store provided, including the free app a day, and confessed that he did occasionally go and have a look in the store to see if there was anything of interest to download.

A few weeks later, he admitted that he had moved the Amazon App Store icon to his main homepage, to remind him that the store existed, and now visits the store at least once a day to check out what the free app available is. He also noted that while he was now making a conscious effort to visit the Amazon App Store on a daily basis, he felt he was also visiting the Android Market more frequently as well, to compare availability and prices of different apps. He also believed that the number of apps he was downloading was also increasing.

In the conclusion of our report on the Amazon App Store, we wrote that ?The `Paid App For Free Every Day' feature should help to drive users to the Amazon Appstore, and take some of their attention away from Android Market. Amazon needs to market the free paid app effectively in order to attract regular customers.?

While this case study is based on one specific individual, it demonstrates that by offering an innovative business model, Amazon has been able to capture the attention and loyalty of at least some users. Interestingly, my conversation also suggests that competition among app stores on the same platform can drive increased activity across multiple storefronts..

- Paul

With the total number of mobile applications downloaded set to exceed 21 billion in 2016, and with global market revenue reaching $32.6 billion, there will be many new players vying for a share of both downloads and revenue. To successfully compete in this market, it will be critical for application store providers to have an app store that is useful and usable, as well as providing compelling features.

In order to understand how to create a superior application store user experience, our Wireless Media Lab has recently undertaken user experience evaluations of a number of leading application stores in the US and UK. The stores evaluated by current Smartphone owners were Android Market, Apple App Store, BlackBerry App World, GetJar, Nokia Ovi Store (UK only) and Windows MarketPlace.

Drawing upon these user experience evaluations (as well as previous application store best practices), we have identified 21 best practice guidelines across the application store process which contribute to a superior user experience. These can be broken down into five main categories, with a selection of best practices highlight:

App Store Structure & Layout

- The homepage of application stores should be clear and simple, and provide direct access to the core sections of a store which should be: categories, search, top lists and users downloads/updates.

- Core sections of the store should always be accessible within one click.

App Discovery & Search

- The search feature should be accessible in one-click no matter where a user is within the store.

 App Description & Overview

- Each app should have a detailed description, including price, ratings, reviews and screenshots. The app overview should be no longer than one page.

 Price & Purchasing

- The price of an application should be clear at all steps in the purchase process - not just when a user chooses the app from a list or search.

- Users like to have an option to preview or trial an app before purchasing it.

Downloading

- Users want the ability to re-download apps they have purchased if they change their phone.

The full set of guidelines are available within the report Mobile Application Stores: Best Practices and User Evaluations, along with in-depth analysis of each application store. (Available to Strategy Analytics' WML clients or for purchase).

- Paul Brown

Our Wireless Media Lab team has just updated its consumer research stats on mobile internet usage.  We've found that the proportion of mobile device owners who use their phone to access the internet regularly has quadrupled in the US, and tripled in Western Europe over the past four years.  28% of US mobile device users, and 22% of those in W. Europe, now access the internet on their phone at least once per week.

However, the vast majority of mobile internet sessions continue to last less than 10 minutes on average - far shorter than the average time spent browsing on a computing device with a larger screen. This suggests that mobile web browsing remains predominantly a 'snacking' or 'time critical' behavior, whereas the PC/laptop is used for more leisurely or media-intensive usage scenarios.

For smartphone owners, person-to-person messaging, social networking and web searching are becoming predominantly associated with mobile activities, while other groups of behavior (e.g. media and entertainment related activities and more casual news and information gathering) are less likely to be undertaken using the mobile device.  For this reason, we recommend that mobile interface designers prioritize mobile experiences such as search, social networking, messaging and time-sensitive feeds of information on topics that match the interests of the individual user (e.g. sports, weather updates etc.).

Additionally, with the increasing penetration of tablets, it is clear that tomorrow's most useful experiences will be optimized across multiple screens, delivering and prioritizing the right type of information to the right screen at the right time to anticipate user needs.

Client reading - Mobile Internet and PC Browsing Behaviors Diverge

Kevin Nolan

In a recently published report, 'Mobile Internet Usage Continues to Rise: Android Users Catching up with Apple' Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Lab has found that the proportion of mobile device owners who use their phone to access the internet regularly has quadrupled in the US, and tripled in Western Europe over the past four years. This trend is being driven by younger respondents in the US and Western Europe. The dramatic drop in usage as age increases is particularly evident in the data from US. Regular usage by respondents aged 45 and older drops to 16%, from 47% among younger respondents. Owners of smartphones, who typically browse the internet on their phones on a daily basis, are driving the increase in mobile internet usage, particularly owners of Apple mobile devices in both the US and Western Europe.

In volume terms, more consumers access the web on their mobile phone primarily via the cellular connection (not Wifi) in both the US and Western Europe. This is because owners of non-smartphones are now accessing the web in large numbers via cellular connection only.

The majority of respondents in both Western Europe and the US still spend more time web browsing on their computer than on their mobile phone. Average length of a web browsing session on mobile devices has remained constant since 2008 with the majority of respondents spending 0-10 minutes per session browsing the web. This suggests that mobile web browsing remains predominantly a `snacking' or `time critical' behavior, whereas the PC/laptop is used for more leisurely or intensive usage scenarios.

To view the full report (subscription required), click here.

- Paul Brown

We are half way through our study benchmarking the user experience of mobile application stores. Our consumer research in London, UK has already thrown up some interesting findings. After reviewing offerings from Apple, Android, Windows, GetJar, BlackBerry and Nokia/Ovi, we asked participants to tell us what they think makes for the best store.

Neither the total number of applications, nor the total number of free applications was considered to be particularly important. As you can see from the list below, the critical factors for these users were all about application discoverability - i.e. how to find the apps they want and how to determine which of the apps available are most relevant and useful to them. The figure in brackets represents the number of times that each factor was mentioned.

• Simple layout, easy to navigate, clean visual appearance (21)
• Detailed descriptions of each app (incl. number of downloads, ratings, reviews, screenshots etc.) (11)
• Powerful, accurate search (9)
• Good categorization (clear, mutually exclusive categories) (8)
• Easy payment process (e.g. ability to choose billing mechanism, enter card details once only) (7)
• Easily identify familiar/official branded apps (5)
• Nice design, professional style graphics, modern color scheme (5)
• Previews and trials (e.g. “try before you buy”, beta testing new trial apps) (5)
• Clear pricing (e.g. clear labelling of whether paid/free) (5)
• Lots of apps - esp. free apps (5)
• Recommendations, featured reviews (4)
• Not too much advertising (2)
• Behavioral profiling (1)
• Most popular apps listed on homescreen (1)
• Secure payment (1)

Among the other things we learned from these consumers were the following recommendations for app stores:

• They prefer a light, elegant, but bright design. Ovi feels more modern in design than many of the other stores.
• They want online backup of apps and the ability to re-download apps they have purchased if they change their phone.
• Since they care about their privacy and data security, it is very useful to tell them the features and personal data that an app needs to access before they choose to download it.
• They would like to be able to sort apps lists and search results in multiple ways (e.g. by popularity, alphabetically etc.)
• Before they download an app, they like to see what similar offerings are available so that they can compare and choose the one that best meets their needs.

We will be repeating this research next week in the USA and the full results (including a performance comparison of the main stores) will be available to clients in January.

On Tuesday, AT&T showcased their WATSON speech recognition engine for analysts and press by providing demonstrations of applications and services which utilize the technology. WATSON has been deployed in IVR services for over 20 years, but has yet to break through into other areas, which AT&T is trying to change.

While AT&T showcased WATSON in several areas, including assistive services and customer care, the areas that caught my interest were mobile applications, social media, and “The Living Room of the Future”.

The mobile application section didn’t have any compelling new applications, but instead was more of a showcase for how WATSON is used in Vlingo’s app for Android and iPhone, AT&T’s Yellow Pages for mobile, and others. Where WATSON and AT&T’s natural language processing stood out in this area was in some of the algorithms used to analyze online data and translate it into information consumers can utilize. For instance, the Have2Eat application searches online data for keywords in reviews, determines the most salient words and sentences, and provides users with the most relevant snippets of reviews.

A more compelling example of this technology was a DVR search feature in “The Living Room of the Future.” Demonstrated on an iPad, users could speak a search item, such as “News programs in the past week which featured Barack Obama.” The DVR would search not only through the titles and descriptions of shows, but also the metadata such as closed-caption text to find specific references to Barack Obama within a program. From there, the user can select from a list of search results on the iPad which is then displayed on the TV.

Also of interest was speech-enabled social TV, which allowed users to speak tweets into a speech-enabled remote control, see other tweets on the program they were viewing, hot topics mentioned in the tweets, as well as analytical data on trends in tweets.

Speech recognition is starting to gain some traction in the automotive space with Ford’s SYNC and MyFord Touch, but with the exception of Google’s voice search has yet to breakthrough with anything compelling in the mobile space that has caught the consumer’s eye. A common question by attendees to the AT&T Labs demonstrators was “Why would I speak that when I can just type it in?” They left unconvinced that voice would be easier. However, for complex input such as the DVR search feature and tweets on social TV, voice may win out in the end.

- Chris Schreiner

Related Reports:
MyFord Touch Has Compelling Embedded Voice HMI
Voice HMI: Connected Car Opportunities and UX Best Practices
Google Navigation Impresses Consumers

I have read a number of articles in the past few weeks that have played down the importance of Apps in the consumer decision-making process for mobile devices. In my opinion, to look one-dimensionally at how important consumers say a particular factor is in their decision is extremely short-sighted and ignores important unarticulated attitudes and motivations that go beyond conscious decision logic. I wrote the following opinion paper in April 2009, and I have yet to see behavioral evidence that contradicts it.

Will App Stores Impact Wireless Device Sales?

In addition to service-revenue generating, to what extent do mobile application stores have the potential to impact consumer behavior and choices for wireless devices? Strategy Analytics believes that those app stores that differentiate themselves in the marketplace and offer exclusive content and a compelling user experience will create the strongest emotional connection to the mobile device by providing a tailored experience to individual members of an increasingly differentiated long-tail customer base. This will ultimately drive much stronger customer loyalty to the device platform than non-tailored offerings.

Analysis

In some consumer electronics sectors, good software has long been used to up-sell hardware. For example, in the gaming world, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and others have for years used exclusive and compelling games titles to sell more consoles and retain existing customers.

Even in the mobile world, for some segments, the availability of third party applications has long been an essential element of the choice of device (or at least the device platform). The availability, or the ability to develop, bespoke productivity tools has traditionally been central to the choice of device/OS in several enterprise application areas.

Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs that run proprietary workflow applications are an example of where the device choice is secondary to the software platform choice.

However, in mainstream consumer segments, the availability of downloadable mobile applications has until recently been a factor in handset choice for only a very small niche of technophile advanced users.

While the continued viability of application stores such as Handango is testament to the existence of demand for such offerings, Strategy Analytics’ mobile user survey conducted in July 2008 found that less than 1% of respondents had downloaded a single application (e.g. a game) to their mobile device.

Strategy Analytics believes that, even among those with a track record of downloading applications, the availability of downloadable apps has been only one factor among many influencing the handset purchase choice (others being memory and processor performance, form factor and physical interface predominantly).

Clearly the explosion of application stores that are being launched by device OEMs and platform providers has increased (and is also a reaction to) consumer demand for customized applications. This chain of events was largely set in motion by the launch of the Apple Apps Store and the massive level of advertising spending which Apple used to promote its Apps Store. We believe that this effort has substantially raised the interest levels of all consumers in the concept of application extensibility.

When Strategy Analytics undertook a consumer evaluation of the Apple Apps Store, we found that it was compelling to users due to its simplicity, consistency and intuitiveness. However, we believe that the success of the Apple Apps Store in expanding consumer adoption of application downloads is also due in large part to the fact that it integrates with and leverages a wider ecosystem of user experience innovations that Apple has brought to bear.

The initial success of the iPhone in driving data traffic was due, in part, to the fact that accessing network services (e.g. YouTube videos) was as simple on the iPhone as was playing music on the device. This overcame traditional barriers of discoverability which rewarded consumers who trialled these services with successful outcomes. This positive reinforcement encouraged them explore data services further.

The Apps store built upon this success by extending this consistent approach to downloading and installing applications, and by providing a very streamlined mechanism to do this.

By providing a wide portfolio of free applications, consumers were able to experiment with no penalty for failure - the only “cost” of downloading a free application they will not use is the time that they spent since virtually all are accessing the App Store over an unlimited data plan or a WiFi connection. Finding compelling applications reinforced their willingness to download more.

There is little downside to the fact that many of these applications are rarely used after they are downloaded. The device has more than enough memory to cope with the most avid downloader. However, the benefit of this is that it makes the device much more tailored to the needs of the individual owner.

This impacts device choice in at least two ways.

Firstly, it provides many more opportunities to capture niche consumers by providing a relevant and personalized experience. We believe that, as the application store marketplace becomes more crowded, apps stores will begin to compete to offer exclusive applications aimed at small consumer niches. Apps providing exclusive content related to a particular sports team or special interest group will be a way of platform providers capturing the attention of an increasingly differentiated long-tail user base.

Secondly, by meeting the needs of the existing users more closely, it reinforces loyalty. Clearly, if the consumer perceives that the applications they have downloaded will be unavailable on another platform, or difficult to transfer, then this will make them more likely to remain loyal to their existing brand/platform when replacing their device.

We believe that automatic backup and synchronization tools based on network storage solutions will be a key enabler of reinforcing this loyalty by providing a quick and painless means of transferring personal information, content and applications when the user upgrades their handset.

Strategy Analytics believes that the impact of application stores on device loyalty and sales is likely to be greater in the short term among Smartphone owners than feature phone owners.

Owners of devices with a high-level (open) OS have always installed more apps than feature phone owners, and they tend to be more interested in using features on their device beyond basic voice and messaging.

Smartphone owners are also those who say they are most interested in customizing their mobile device in order to make them “stand out from the crowd”. This is a trend we are seeing gain increasing traction.

However, in the medium term, we view the availability of applications (and widgets) as increasingly important to providing an enhanced user-experience on mid-tier feature phones, thereby raising consumer satisfaction and stickiness to device brands as mobile web surfing goes increasingly off-deck.

Our recent research comparing mobile content delivery mechanisms suggests that, if they can discover and install rich connected applications (or if these are pre-installed on the device), then consumers have an enhanced experience, because they can more easily access the services and brands that they are affiliated to.

The INQ-1 Facebook device is a good example of this. By making the process of accessing their favorite social networking site simple and intuitive, it has raised consumer satisfaction levels and, we believe, repeat purchase intention among H3G customers.

Conclusions

Strategy Analytics believes that the principal contribution of application stores to the mobile user experience is the ability to customize and personalize the experience based on the individual needs and preferences of the user. This tailoring of the experience creates an emotional connection between the device and the user, which we believe develops stickiness and customer loyalty.

In our opinion, the fact that most free downloaded mobile applications are rarely used after the first few days (as has been recently reported) is unimportant, since there is no penalty to the user for downloading these apps given abundant smartphone memory and virtually no cost to download (on unlimited data plans or WiFi). We believe that free applications play a vital role in driving eyeballs to application stores, as long as there is a balance with paid-for applications in order to drive revenue.

Exclusivity of applications and the ability to build an extensive personal collection will drive customer loyalty to the device platform since repurchasing and/or porting apps and content collections to another OS will be perceived as time-consuming and expensive by users.