1.2 Problem Description 3

UNIVERSITETET I OSLO Institutt for informatikk

INF5261

Opera Mini

Irit Kristoffersen - [email protected] Rizwan B. Ahmed - [email protected] Tor Grønsund - [email protected] Tor Anders Dybing [email protected]

9. May 2007

- 1 - Index

Index...... 2 1 Introduction...... 3 1.1 Abstract...... 3 1.2 Problem description...... 3 1.3 Nature of problem description...... 3 2 Background...... 5 2.1 Opera Mini...... 5 2.2 Pakistan...... 6 3 Methodology...... 10 3.1 Data collection...... 10 3.2 Literature review...... 10 3.3 Techniques...... 12 4 Analysis...... 19 4.1 Personas...... 19 4.2 Task descriptions...... 22 4.3 Heuristic Evaluation...... 23 4.4 Usability test...... 28 5 Suggestions for improvement...... 30 6 Discussion and conclusion...... 32 6.1 Conclusion...... 32 6.2 Further work...... 33 7 References...... 35 8 Appendix...... 37 8.1 Telecom providers...... 37 8.2 Quick facts - Pakistan...... 38 8.3 Scenarios...... 40 8.4 Use case...... 48 8.5 Work and Communication...... 49

- 2 - 1 Introduction

1.1 Abstract

This is a project for the course “INF5261 - Development of mobile information systems” at the University of Oslo – Department of Informatics, spring 2007.

Introductorily, the nature of problem space and the challenges to be met has been discussed. Secondarily, the general background of the report is introduced. Furthermore, the paper discusses the literature and concepts that the work is based on, followed by analysis using relevant methods. Finally, a conclusion is made with suggestions to further work.

We would like to thank Opera Software that initiated this project, and especially Yenny Othero for all valuable help.

1.2 Problem description

The main subject of this report is to, with regard to usability; analyze the role that Opera Mini may have in shaping the Internet experience in developing countries.

1.3 Nature of problem description

Fundamentals such as economics, culture, infrastructure, politics and human needs are of significant difference between developing countries and developed/industrialized countries. Consequently, this affects the digital evolution which in turn will affect the fundamentals creating a vicious circle. “The digital divide” is the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital technologies and those without. “The term digital divide refers to those who can benefit from it, and those who don't, as opposed to just talking about who has direct access to technology, and those who don't” [1]. Furthermore, the term is also more precisely used to refer to the gap between people who have access to the internet and those that do not [1]. Today's

- 3 - society, jobs and education are often directly related to the Internet. In countries where the Internet and other technologies are not accessible, education is suffering, and uneducated people cannot compete in our global economy. The importance of Internet access could be widely supported for. However, the situation of the digital gap will alone push forward the needs and commercial opportunities for both the developing countries and participants such as Opera Software.

While dealing with the lack of Internet infrastructure in contradiction to the need for access to the World Wide Web, the penetration is higher regarding to mobile networks and technologies. Since the penetration rate of mobile phone usage is more then double then of the Internet broadband there are emerging opportunities and challenges to provide access for these users to the World Wide Web. By using the Opera Mini browser, developing countries now have the chance of accessing the World Wide Web through their mobile phone. However, today, the discussion is moving from the technology itself towards challenges to skills and literacy. Training people in computer skills entails teaching them to read and write first and then how to search and use information effectively. Regular practice and the access to practice will still be a limiting factor. These challenges put the project in context - improved usability will oblige this limiting factor increasing the use of Opera Mini. This study will try to elaborate on the opportunities and challenges that emerge with the “digital divide”. Extensively, it will focus on the situation, the gap, where people in developing countries often have access to mobile telephony but not Internet broadband.

- 4 - 2 Background

In this section we will describe background information that will be relevant for the project. First we will shortly introduce some technical specifications of Opera Mini, and then we give a brief introduction to, a developing country, Pakistan as a subject for this study.

2.1 Opera Mini

2.1.1 Description and Technical specification of Opera Mini Opera Mini is a JavaME web browser for mobile devices. It has to be downloaded to a cell phone that supports Java Midlets. A Midlet is a Java program for embedded devices, more specifically the Java virtual machine. The Midlets are usually games and applications that run on a cell phone. Opera Mini fetches for all content through a proxy server that runs the layout engine of the Opera desktop browser. The Small Screen Rendering engine on the proxy server reformats the webpage into a width that is suitable for small screens. Furthermore, the content is compressed, and then delivered to the phone in a markup language called Opera Binary Markup Language (BML). When the content reaches the phone it has been reduced in size by typically 70-90%.

2.1.2 Market development and competitive situation In popular terms Opera is participating in the so-called”browser war”. There are several commercially known participants with higher market shares, such as Microsoft and Mozilla. By offering Opera Mini, Opera has extensively been strengthening their competitive situation by focusing on competing in the field of the mobile market. However, its competitive advantage in technology and market position is getting threatened. Both established actors and company start- ups are beginning to see the potential of leveraging mobile browsing functionality.

- 5 - For an example, by 2005 Nokia did announce the release of a proprietary “mobile browser” resulting in increased competition and a customer-loss to Opera. Although the new browser rather is directly competing with Opera Mobile for smart phones, it illustrates an increased competitive situation in the market space. Nokia’s new browser aims at browsing full Web pages on a smart phone. Another competitor is Mozilla, known for it’s free web browser Firefox, is entering the mobile segment with the browser Minimo. Other web browsers for cell phones, smart phones or pocket pc’s are PocketIE by Microsoft, Shrunq, NetFront and Thunderhawk by Bitstream.

On the one hand WAP technology related to mobile phones is simple and quite restrictive in what it can do - on the other hand smart phones are very expensive and more complex. Opera is present in both segments. Facing the development and the emerging competition, Opera is turning their heads at developing countries aiming at the low-end market for cell phones. Cultural differences and barriers such as government policies and industry regulations are among challenges that will affect Opera Mini’s progress. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is partly to uncover some of these challenges by addressing the obstacles and opportunities situated in the developing countries.

2.2 Pakistan

2.2.1 Introduction We will focus on the people situated in Pakistan that use or may use Opera Mini in the future. Furthermore, we will examine how the context and environment are affected by the entry of mobile technologies and the Internet in general. The increasing market for mobile functionality and need for Internet access are the main reason for choosing Pakistan as a representative developing country.

Pakistan has approximately 165 million inhabitants (as of July 2006) [2]. The total number of mobile cellular subscribers has skyrocketed to about 50 million in late 2006, up from only about 300,000 in 2000. In contrast, the use of internet had near 10.5 million users in 2005. [2] This indicates a growing requirement of communication services and infrastructure. Nevertheless, the

- 6 - use of Internet through mobile phones is growing rapidly in Pakistan as in other developing countries. This is encouraged by lack of infrastructure and increasing need of Internet access for information purposes.

As the sixth largest population in the world, there are mainly five different mobile operator companies operating in Pakistan. These are respectively Telenor, MobiLink, PakTel, Ufone and Warid. Many geographical areas are without radio frequency signals, as the large population and an increasing number of mobile subscribers often overload the networks. Nokia and Siemens are currently facing this challenges by developing GSM, GPRS and EDGE network functionality in cooperation with Telenor [3].

The access and use of Internet through the mobile telephone is becoming even more popular then the use of computers, although computers are better suited for getting online. Users with various needs preferably try to choose the most easy and flexible way to access Internet. The purpose of using the mobile version is the same as for the standard computer version. For an example, everyone can read their e-mail without starting the computer where signal can be very low assessing problems such as low Internet signals and slow computers. Some popular areas of use through the mobile browser are reading newspapers, and downloading software and music. Not everyone attend to browse the World Wide Web through their mobile phones. This is mainly because of low signals and high prices. A widely spoken critique is pointed at the small screen of the mobile phone and that the websites originally are not made for such small displays

2.2.2 Society and culture The use of Internet through mobile networks is increasing. An increasing number of people are using mobile devices to access the Internet. The use of the Internet itself is becoming even more popular in Pakistan. Because of lack of infrastructure and package-switched networks in Pakistan, people there turn to their mobile phones in order to access information.

- 7 - Noise and sound disturbance Due to the big population and traffic congestion busy places becomes noisy. Extensively, vehicles use the horn in order to give an alert to all kind of purposes. These issues may lead to disturbance and affect the experience in general while talking in the mobile phone.

Social community and technological changes People turn to mobile communication in order to have everybody available at any time, and to pursue fast exchange of information. Young people often want to experience new technologies such as SMS, MMS and email. Due to culture, religion and morality difference, young people use new and fast technologies to make a conversation between each other. The most commonly is to send email and SMS. Young people exchange their mobile number to try to get to know each other. Especially, young people use their mobile phone to develop their social contacts and try to understand opposite gender by chatting with each other.

Misuse of mobile communication In Pakistan, a problem is that some people tend to use mobile technologies for criminal purposes. An example could be a terror network that gets able to sustain updated and reachable at any time. This may be the only way in which they can communicate with each other during terror incidents. Mobile phones have even been used related to explosives.

Familiarity The lack of information and knowledge about ICT can make the user ignorant and unaware with the software of Opera Mini.

Technical background To know about how Opera Mini works and how to set a network, some people can be uninformed with this kind of information. People need technical background to get to know about the software. For example which mobile telephone they can use with Opera Mini.

- 8 - Installation For novice user it can be a question about how to install the program. Usually new mobile providers put download links in the Opera Mini were user have to download and install easily. A mobile with missing download links will face difficulties to grasp the program on their mobile phone.

2.2.3 Mobile telecom providers Limited coverage Even there are six companies; Pakistan is facing severe problems having sufficient coverage some places. Currently, Telenor Pakistan is processing the development of GSM, GPRS and EDGE communication. When Telenor Pakistan started in April 2005 it pledged that 70% of the country would be covered. Telenor Pakistan has been entering various strategic partnerships. Respectively, Nokia will build and operate a GSM/GPRS/EDGE network which will cover central and Northern Punjab and areas around Lahore. Siemens have signed a deal to build a GSM/GPRS/EDGE network to cover the Southern areas of Pakistan and central area around Islamabad [16].

Price to use Not every one can afford the use or acquisition of Opera Mini. Two telecom companies, Warid and Mobilink, are currently providing GPRS and WAP services in Pakistan. These companies charges about 15 RS/MB (1, 54 NOK / 0, 20 EUR) whether the user downloads or uploads. The charges of connecting are similar to the price of local calls. The price is a major issue to the employment of Opera Mini [17] and [18].

Congested networks In the beginning, due to the large population Pakistan faced problems with congested networks. Problems regarding to weak signals at indoor places lead to unsure thoughts about mobile communication in general. It was especially critical at times when religion ceremonies were held. The same thing happened in the Europe, in the beginning of mobile adoption, when the New Year celebration was held. This problem has been solved as the network providers have expanded the capacity.

- 9 - 3 Methodology

3.1 Data collection

The main focus of interest for Opera was to analyze the user group of Opera Mini in developing countries. This was done in a top-down approach where relevant literature about developing countries was chosen and carefully read. The culture and social factors were seemingly important in order to understand the background issues. Furthermore, articles about mobiles technology related to the developing world, and what challenges there are for deploying computer technologies in rural areas in developing countries was read. An example, case study from India [4], claims that the challenges are applicable to other developing countries with regard to environmental and user challenges.

Furthermore, the user in Pakistan was studied. Since we try to learn about a user group in another county, a phone interview was chosen to be a relevant method. The research gave us the basic information to continue further work and methods (creating personas). During the eastern holiday, a team member travelled to Pakistan to visit his family. In this period usability testing and observation was performed. The team member also provided for heuristic evaluation in Pakistan, where some of the challenges such as slow phone lines were experienced.

3.2 Literature review

Various articles about mobiles phone and the developing world were of great relevance in the assignment. The articles helped us understand what challenges there are for deploying computer technologies in rural areas in developing countries. An example for that is a case study from India [4], which claim that the challenges they mentioned are applicable to other developing countries. They refer to environmental challenges and user challenges.

- 10 - Environmental challenges include:  Intermittent power – The power grid in the developing world is unpredictable, both spikes and outages are common  Intermittent connectivity – Not all villages are connected, and even if they are, it is probably only with low- quality copper wire. The local phone exchanges may use outdated equipment that hinders digital communications. Internet connections established over these links are slowly and often disconnected.  Long travel times – The quality of roads is generally poor in rural areas, increasing driving time considerably.  Variable population density – To note two extremes, in Bangladesh the density is over 1000 people per square kilometre, while in some parts of central and southern Africa it is less than 10. This greatly impacts the economics of providing information access.  Lack of secure storage

User challenges include:  Limited education – Less educated people have difficulty with abstraction and symbolic manipulation. Many rural people may be literate.  Underemployment  Limited Disposable income

Mentioning the challenges above may explain why mobile phone computing is considered to be a revolution. Lower cost of wireless infrastructure, deregulation in the telecommunications industry and plummeting cost of handsets puts mobile telephony in the hands of billions of people around the world. This is a way to overcome the digital gap as discussed earlier, and showing how Opera Mini has a potential marked to address.

Conducted academically research Scientific literature in the field of mobile communication where studied and related in order to enhance the credibility of this assignment. The literature was chosen from a selection made by the University staff, and further carefully selected as meaningful to this project. The chosen

- 11 - article is: Walking Away from the Desktop Computer: Distributed Collaboration and Mobility in a Product Design Team, Victoria Belotti, Sara Bly, 1996. [5]

Mainly, the article contributed to the thought process around study methods. The methods used in the article where: brainstorming meeting, interviews, attendance to project meetings and close observation. Limited by geographical distance, a challenge to us was to gather enough reliable data. This was mainly done by interviews and observation, whereas the article of choice did function as guidance. Furthermore, the article prompted for inspiration and discussion related to potential market segments – in this case to Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) in the business segment. The study of the article also issued a discussion due to whether Opera Mini challenged local or distributed communication. In general, the parallel analysis of scientific literature turned out to be somewhat time consuming, hence meaningful to the project.

3.3 Techniques

In a usability analysis it is common to use different techniques in an iterative manner [6]:  Understanding the user  Develop personas  Write scenarios  Evaluation

3.3.1 Understanding the user In order to learn about the users we had to meet them, work with them, and involve them in helping us to understand their:  Needs for information  Ways of thinking about, grouping, and organizing information  Levels of knowledge about Opera Mini  Levels of experience with the Opera Mini and similar types of browsers  Ways of working with information

- 12 - By working with users, we can also find out about the technology they have available to them, what mobile phone they use, the physically environment in which they work, and so on. There are many useful techniques to get useful information from users and about users, just to mention some: interviews, focus groups and surveys.

3.3.2 Personas Alan Cooper introduced a new design tool in 1999 [7]. The method uses fictional persons which are described extensively. The personas are created from Coopers Goal-directed design which provides focus on the personas. The Personas method is a relatively new but powerful tool in the design world. It is especially used in the field of interface and web design the recent years.

This method, as other methods, gets critics (mainly for not having real customer data) and has its virtues.

A persona in our case is a fictional person who represents a major user group of Opera Mini. Personas are given characteristics and are assumed to be in particular environments based on known users’ requirements so that these elements can be taken into consideration when creating scenarios for conceptualizing a site. In most cases, personas are synthesized from a series of ethnographic interviews with real people, and then captured in 1-2 page descriptions that include photograph, behaviour patterns, goals, skills, attitudes, and environment, with a few fictional personal details to bring the persona to life. Benefits:

 Help team members share a specific, consistent understanding of various audience groups. Data about the groups can be put in a proper context and can be understood and remembered in coherent stories.  Team members’ solutions can be guided by how well they meet the needs of individual user personas. Features can be prioritized based on how well they address the needs or one or more personas.  Provide a human "face" so as to focus empathy on the persons represented by the demographics

- 13 - In the study of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), among the prevailing theories of user- centered design testing are Clayton Louis and John Reimen’s “Task-Centered System Design” (TCSD), and Alan Cooper’s “Goal Directed Design” (GDD). Both methodologies are geared up to create efficient software that suit the user needs, minimize frustration, and allow full pleasure and productivity from software and software-based products. In TCSD system, end- user profiles are based on real-world people doing their real-world tasks whereas in GDD, “personas,” who are not real people but rather hypothetical archetypes, are developed whose goals, rather than tasks guide them through scenarios of interactivity events [8]. Since we are trying to identify the needs of a certain user group for Opera Mini, we mean that the persona technique is best suited for our assignment.

A case study we read [9], advocate for use of use case and personas in user interaction design for small projects. In the paper one can read how those two tools were used together to specify the logical user interaction requirements in the actual design of a small interaction system. The author also concludes that while these tools would not be appropriate for large projects, they worked very well in this case and provided the client with a successfully implemented product. We are aware of the limitation of those tools. However, since the system we are testing is simple, it is in our opinion that these tools are adequate for use in our project.

3.3.3 Task analysis, developing scenarios A task analysis complements user analysis. Task analysis means learning about our users’ goals- what they want to do use Opera Mini for and the way they are handling/ working. Task analysis can also mean figuring out what more specific tasks users must do to meet those goals and what step they must take to accomplish those tasks. Along with user and task analysis it is usual to do a third analysis: understanding users’ environments (physical, social, cultural, and technological environments).

User and task analysis focuses on understanding:  What users’ goals are; what they are trying to achieve  What users actually do to achieve those goals

- 14 -  What personal, social, and cultural characteristics the users bring to the tasks  How users are influenced by their physical environment  How users’ previous knowledge and experience influence how they think about their work and the workflow they follow to perform their tasks.

In our case we can for example ask what overall tasks users are trying to accomplish when using Opera Mini. Examples of tasks might be:  Read newspaper online  Read e-mail online  Send documents via Opera Mini  Listen to Bollywood music online via Opera Mini

Scenarios and personas lie close to each other; they can enhance each other when properly applied. Scenarios are widely used by designers. It seems however that the scenarios are not always successful through several reasons. The characters in the scenarios are often not based on real data but created from the designers own experiences and assumptions. By doing this the scenario will be more a scenario for the creator, the designer instead of the target group. [10] When scenarios are properly designed the characters are based on real data such as contextual analysis from participants from demographic or market data. But even with this data the scenario will not provide very lively characters because their not very detailed [10]. This leads to scenarios which can have several outcomes with the same data. The behaviour can only very roughly be predicated or extrapolated. One of the problems with creating realistic scenarios is the limited information available about the characters. The personas can complement this shortcoming. The personas provide very detailed information and provide enough ground to predict the behaviour. The combination of personas and scenarios is ideal. The data which is derived from the personas can be used to create realistic scenarios. This also allows letting underlying goals and needs to come back into the scenario.

- 15 - 3.3.4 Use-case Personas are often used with other techniques. In his paper [9], Randolph presents how two tools, personas and use-cases, were used together to specify the logical user interaction requirements in the actual design of a small information system. It is important to specify the differences between those two techniques. Personas represent users of the system. Use-case actors represent "anything that needs to interact with the system to exchange information. An actor is a user, a role, which could be an external system as well as a person" [11] While time or an external information system could be a use-case actor, they would never be personas.

Another difference between personas and actors is the degree of detail in their definition. A use- case actor might be defined with one or two words, such as member or marketing. Personas require back-story, needs, and goals. While personas can aid in designing user interaction that meets a user's needs and goals, it often seems a rather nebulous tool for detailing the specifics of users' task requirements. For that task, use-cases can be a simple but useful tool.

3.3.5 Heuristic Evaluation A heuristic evaluation is a usability evaluation method for computer software that helps to identify usability problems in the user interface (UI) design. It specifically involves evaluators examining the interface and judging its compliance with recognized usability principles (the "heuristics").

The main goal to heuristic evaluations is to identify any problems associated with the design of user interfaces. Usability consultant Jakob Nielsen developed this method on the basis of several years of experience in teaching and consulting about usability engineering.

Heuristic evaluations are one of the most informal methods of usability inspection in the field of human-computer interaction. There are many sets of usability design heuristics; they are not mutually exclusive and cover many of the same aspects of interface design.

Quite often, usability problems that are discovered are categorized according to their estimated impact on user performance or acceptance. Often the heuristic evaluation is conducted in the

- 16 - context of use cases (typical user tasks), to provide feedback to the developers on the extent to which the interface is likely to be compatible with the intended users’ needs and preferences.

Most heuristic evaluations can be accomplished in a matter of days. The time required varies with the size of the artifact, its complexity, the purpose of the review, the nature of the usability issues that arise in the review, and the competence of the reviewers. A criticism that is often levelled at heuristic methods of evaluation is that results are highly influenced by the knowledge of the expert reviewer(s). [12]

Benefits:  Can be used early in the design process (prototype)  Can be used to evaluate the complete design  Cost effective method

Limitations:  Need to assume that you have good guidelines  Representative problem

Also, heuristic evaluation should be used together with other techniques to get a complete evaluation.

3.3.6 Usability testing Usability testing is a means for measuring how well people can use some human-made object (such as a web page, a computer interface, a document, or a device) for its intended purpose, i.e. usability testing measures the usability of the object. Usability testing focuses on a particular object or a small set of objects, whereas general human-computer interaction studies attempt to formulate universal principles.

If usability testing uncovers difficulties, such as people having difficulty understanding instructions, manipulating parts, or interpreting feedback, then developers should improve the design and test it again. During usability testing, the aim is to observe people using the product in

- 17 - as realistic a situation as possible, to discover errors and areas of improvement. Designers commonly focus excessively on creating designs that look "cool", compromising usability and functionality. This is often caused by pressure from the people in charge, forcing designers to develop systems based on management expectations instead of people's needs. A designer's primary function should be more than appearance, including making things work with people. [13]

- 18 - 4 Analysis

Based on our data collection we developed two personas, and based on these two personas we developed scenarios that described possible tasks.

4.1 Personas

As mentioned earlier, created personas are based on data and can be derived from several researches. Since one member in our group has a Pakistani background, we had access to reliable sources. Also a research on which services is being offered by the Pakistani telecom company and other foreign companies complemented our data collection, which gave the ground for developing our personas.

Mohamed Raja News Journalist, Islamabad today

 31-years-old  Married, 3 children  Academic education, BA  Comfortable using a computer, intermediate Internet user, with a T1 connection at work and dial-up at home

 Uses email extensively; uses the web about 2.5 hours a day for his work

"Can you get this article dons by the end of the day?" Key Attributes

Mohamed spends most of his time at work checking his e-mail,  Focused, goal-oriented reading the big Pakistani newspapers and net  Society oriented, Papers to see if there is anything new in the area he writes about. interested in politics

- 19 - Search for the same things at foreign newspapers. Calls around to  High language skills sources and works on individual cases, which are being published  Social, likes action and On the net or on newspaper. Discusses with colleagues, travels work under pressure around to meet sources, interview them and take picture of them

Abid Chaudry kiosk owner, suburb of Islamabad

 25-years-old  Married, 2 children  Elementary school  Comfortable using a mobile, and he is familiar with use of Mobile Internet  Uses Mobile Internet occasionally for private purposes

 Has no PC

"Have you heard the latest song form Bollywood?" Key Attributes

Abid spends most of his time at work ordering new products from  Hard working guy suppliers, filling up products on the shelves, and serving customers.  Interested in films and Abid is a big fan of Bollywood films and music. When there is little to music from Bollywood do at work, he likes to surf on the mobile Internet, loading down  Service minded music, sending music files and MMS to his friends and family.

 Social, likes to meet and work people

Mohamed (persona number 1) is a user which represents the professionals, who use Opera Mini mostly for work purposes. Even though Mohamed has access to Internet from a computer, he is

- 20 - very mobile at work and therefore Opera Mini can answer his needs. In addition, the electricity supply is not always stable and in case of electricity stop, Opera Mini is a good alternative for providing access to the Internet.

Abid (persona number 2) represents the consumers group, where all of them own a mobile phone, but few own a computer. Abid has no computer and his income does not allow him to use Opera Mini on a regular basis. Still, he uses Opera Mini from time to time for private purposes like music and games, as it is available, as well as being “addicted” to use of mobile services.

By using Mohamed and Abid as our personas we hope to gain several benefits, such as:  Users’ goals and needs (which Mohamed/Abid represents) become a common point of focus for the group.  The group can concentrate on testing/evaluating design for a manageable set of personas knowing that they represent the needs of many users.  By always asking, “Would Mohamed/Abid use this?” [14] the group can evaluate whether Opera Mini’s tools are built for what users ask for rather than what they will actually use.  Designs can be evaluated against the personas, getting better designs into usability testing.

According to Forrester1, many companies including Ford Motor Company, Microsoft, and Staples develop and use personas and they report many benefits from doing so including: 1. a better understanding of customers 2. shorter design cycles 3. improves product quality

When such big, well known and successful companies reports many benefits from using personas, we think that our choice of using personas in order to find out if Opera Mini tools are good enough for the customers in Pakistan is a good choice.

We have set some criteria for the personas we have created:  Use mobile phone that support that technology

1 Forrester Research http://www.forrester.com/rb/

- 21 -  Have knowledge/interest browsing internet  Can afford the cost

We feel that we have ended up with two primary personas, each for one major user group. The one represents “professionals” who uses the product mainly for work purposes. The other represents consumers who use services for private purposes.

4.2 Task descriptions

There are different flavours of task descriptions, examples are: scenarios, use cases, and essential use cases.

Each of these may be used to describe either existing tasks or envisioned tasks with a new device. They are not mutually exclusive and are often used in combination to capture different perspectives or to document different stages during the development lifecycle.

4.2.1 Scenarios A scenario is “an informal narrative description”. It describes human activities or tasks in a story that allows exploration and discussion of contexts, needs and requirements. Telling stories is a natural way for people to explain what they are doing or how to achieve something. It is therefore something that stakeholders can easily relate to. In order to tell a story we have created two persons, called Personas. The first person is Mohamed Raja, who is a journalist. And the second person is Abid Chaudry, who is a kiosk owner. We have described the Personas more complete earlier. An example from the scenarios is illustrated below. The collection of scenarios is located in Appendix 8.3.

Scenario 3, Use Opera Mini to book tickets

- 22 - Twenty minutes later I got an interesting call from one of my sources. He told me that later that day a very interesting meeting is taking place. A great business man from Europe, he did not know who, was going to meet the director of Pakistan’s largest corporation to talk about a purchase. The meeting takes place in a small city in the north of Pakistan because nobody should know about this, especially journalists. I suddenly needed a ticket with the airplane. I tried to call to the airport, but the phone lines were broken. Last month I had seen a commercial on TV about booking tickets over the Internet, maybe I could try it. I pointed my mobile web browser to right site, and there was a link called “book online”. It took me about five minutes to book a ticket, I was a customer already. Why have I not tried this before? I asked myself when I was looking for a taxi to the airport.

4.2.2 Use case Use case diagram is located in Appendix 8.4

4.3 Heuristic Evaluation

For our heuristic evaluation we used four evaluators. All of the evaluators had different mobile phones and accessed the same pages. First we had a session with individually evaluating, and thereafter discussing the different results together. The usability results we found were rated from one to four, dependent on how seriously the problem was (in our opinion).

4.3.1 Mobile phones used for evaluation Phone1 – Samsung d-600 Phone2 – Nokia N70 Phone3 – Nokia 6230 Phone4 - Motorola Krzr K1

- 23 - 4.3.2 Browser Opera Mini

4.3.3 Pages visited www.vg.no www.gmail.com

4.3.4 Severity Ratings for Usability Problems The severity of a usability problem is a combination of three factors:  The frequency with which the problem occurs: Is it common or rare?  The impact of the problem if it occurs: Will it be easy or difficult for the users to overcome?  The persistence of the problem: Is it a one-time problem that users can overcome once they know about it or will users repeatedly be bothered by the problem?

The following 0 to 4 rating scale can be used to rate the severity of usability problems: 0 = I don't agree that this is a usability problem at all 1 = Cosmetic problem only: need not be fixed unless extra time is available on project 2 = Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority 3 = Major usability problem: important to fix, so should be given high priority 4 = Usability catastrophe: imperative to fix this before product can be released

4.3.5 Heuristics 1. Visibility of System Status 2. Match between System and the Real World 3. User Control and Freedom 4. Consistency and Standards 5. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover From Errors 6. Error Prevention

- 24 - 7. Recognition Rather Than Recall 8. Flexibility and Minimalist Design 9. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design 10. Help and Documentation (Jakob Nilsen’s ten recommended heuristics [15])

4.3.6 Results

1. Visibility of System Status The system should always keep user informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.

Description Rating Consistensy in textfields. For example when you enter text in a textfield, the label from 1-2 the form changes. Feedback with some of the functionality in menus. For example when you add a 2-3 bookmark you don’t get feedback that this was successful. There is a problem when the background on links, fields and buttons has the same 1 colour as the cursor.

2. Match between System and the Real World The system should speak the user’s language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.

Description Rating The logic choices in some menus can vary in different telephones. For example the 3 menu you get when you enter a URL. In phone 1 the choices are: empty – earlier addresses – ok while in phone 2 the choices are: ok – earlier addresses – empty The shortcut menu is difficult to find 2 Little information about the different choices in the menu, especially in properties 2-3

3. User Control and Freedom

- 25 - Users should be free to select and sequence tasks (when appropriate), rather than having the system doing this for them. Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Users should make their own decisions (with clear information) regarding the costs of exiting current work. The system should support undo and redo.

Description Rating No possibility for copy-paste 1 No possibility of undo in choices you have done in some of the menu. For example 2 undo deleting a bookmark No possibility of choosing for example page 4 of 16. You have to click next – next – 2-3 next from page 1

4. Consistency and Standards Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.

Description Rating Help element under tools breaks with common standards 1

5. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover From Errors Error messages should be expressed in plain language (NO CODES).

Description Rating No help with solving problem if an error message is displayed. (network error) 2 No possibility of having a detailed view in error messages. (for experts) 2

6. Error Prevention Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place.

Description Rating Nothing found

7. Recognition Rather Than Recall

- 26 - Make objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.

Description Rating Nothing found

8. Flexibility and Minimalist Design Accelerators-unseen by the novice user-may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions. Provide alternative means of access and operation for users who differ from the “average” user (e.g., physical or cognitive ability, culture, language, etc.)

Description Rating Problems with finding the shortcutmenu 3 Mising hotkeys in the mainmenu 2 No support for WAI? 2

9. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility

Description Rating When deselecting “show pictures” in the properties menu, the picture frames in the 2 webpage will still be visible and not compressed. No possibility to change the look and placing of the main menu 1

10. Help and Documentation Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large

Description Rating

- 27 - Difficult to switch between work and help-function 1 Data entry screens and dialog boxes are not supported by navigation and completion 1 instructions No shortcut to help in shortcut menu No information about highlighted menu element 1

4.3.7 Comments A general comment is that tasks will take longer time to execute on a mobile phone than on a computer. This is because of navigation problems. We have also experienced that different mobile phones behave different, for example some of the menus’ logical order.

4.4 Usability test

We conducted a usability test in Pakistan through one of our team members. This is his story from Pakistan:

4.4.1 The story The person I met in Pakistan is a daily computer user and he knows modern technologies in computer world. His name is Khurram Shabbir, he is unmarried and 24 year old. I chose him because he was an expert user and he could be relevant for out project further on. I met him at his house and I told him a few words about usability testing.

The first ting he did was to use the Internet to find out more about Opera Mini. He went to the website www.operamini.com/help where he got some more information about the system and he also learned how to use the application. I asked him if he had any question before we started using Opera Mini. The mobile phone he used was Nokia 6680.

After starting the application he navigated through the menu. At the same time he asked me about if Opera Mini save sessions or cookies or not. The next step was to visit a website. He clicked on “enter address” and entered www.gmail.com. First time when he tried to log on, he got an error message where he didn’t have any network. Then he navigated to “tools” and tried to change

- 28 - network setup which was not successful because of low signal. He tried again to access the website, and this time he had a successful connection. He was very happy to see the website on the mobile and he tried to log on to his mail. After checking his email he logged out. The whole test was around forty-five minutes where he used most of the time to learn about Opera Mini from the Opera Mini website. It took time for him to understand the use of buttons. He didn’t know how to use the shortcut menu which is easy accessed by using #-button. There were not any comments in the user’s language about unsuccessful network settings and why he couldn’t be connected. When he cleared the history he didn’t get any feedback that the history was deleted, so he chose to go back to history and check it manually.

4.4.2 Conclusion Although this is not a proper scientific usability test, it was interesting for us to see how a user from Pakistan approaches the application. It was also interesting to see how the environment and infrastructure affects the use.

5 Suggestions for improvement

Shortcuts To know about the shortcuts we have to navigate through the menu. When user moves the cursor to enter the address, the shortcut appears in the middle of the line below. This must be written with the text (after or before) because user has to move their attention between the menu and line on the bottom otherwise. On the other hand, it is not easy to remember these shortcuts if they appears other places in the system because of user attraction.

- 29 - Shortcut menu In the help in shortcuts, there is written that to go forward press “#” which make user unknown to use this button to assess to shortcuts. There must be written that to accesses shortcuts press “#” once when using the program. This problem is common with novice and expert users.

Exit-button Exit button in the menu makes confusion about to exit the page or what. Just use of exit word gives user not proper information. There must be written that this is an action to exit the Opera Mini for example Exit Opera Mini, Exit Opera etc.

System feedback Opera Mini doesn’t give feedback to users when an operation is done like when you clear history etc. One better example is when user adds or removes search engines to pull down menu. The system doesn’t tell what is going on now. User has to wait until the selected process is done. There is no message during about the operation was done.

Bookmark icons Bookmark icons are fixed even if we change its address and its name, it show every time same icon. There must be option to remove these icons from its properties. To overcome this problem is to make/add a new bookmark and move form the bottom to the top is someone want to have on the top.

Copy/paste function Having a copy paste function will help increasing the speed of the user experience of the browser.

Help menu The help menu needs to be more visible than it is. It is not very common that you find help- function under tools.

- 30 - 6 Discussion and conclusion

6.1 Conclusion

The reason for choosing this assignment was mainly based on two aspects. First, we were interested in how the people of developing countries could use technology to address new opportunities. An example may be the farmer who lives far away from the city markets. The farmer has not the option to look into available information about market price. Given the opportunity to use new communication features, the farmer is able to set the proper price. Secondarily, the group was interested in the opportunities that mobile communication and

- 31 - Internet in general are offering. It has been interesting to see how different cultures affect different aspects of use and applications.

Our main problem area for this project was to analyse the user group for Opera Mini in Pakistan. In order to understand the user we have read articles on the Internet and from the scientifically libraries. In addition we did phone interviews with contact persons in Pakistan. Observations technique was also used when our group mate visited Pakistan recently. Based on that information we developed two personas that we believe represent the main user group for Opera Mini. One group uses Opera Mini as a result of mobility at work or as a consequence of unstable access to the Internet. The second group has a limited disposable income but uses mobile as a preferred way for communication and uses it occasionally to download music and games. Writing some common scenarios for those personas helped us focusing on the users and their tasks.

Lack of Internet access for the majority of the population as well as environment and user challenges in deploying computing technologies, enlarge the digital divide between people in the developing world and the western countries. To mention some of these challenges: intermittent power and connectivity, limited education and limited disposable income. The mobile technology, which enables internet access through mobile phone, appears to bridge this divide, and in a way overcome some of these challenges.

Several reasons bring an opportunity to offer services in mobile communication to this market. Some examples are: reports on growing mobile users in Pakistan, the fact that only a small percent of the population own a computer, and lower cost of wireless infrastructure.

Still there are some challenges to overcome such as literacy, difficulty with abstract navigation and understanding the notion of menus, screen and windows as well as lack of technical knowledge/experience. Price is another issue and plays an important role especially among younger people. As listed in the point 2.2, use of such services is quite expensive in Pakistan.

- 32 - In addition, we have tested the user interface of Opera Mini using two common scenarios. For analysing the interface we have used Jacob Nilsen’s 10 heuristics for usability. We have found some problems, mostly related to navigation, but none of them was highly rated as a sever usability problem. The fact that one of the heuristic evaluation was done in Pakistan approved some of our claims about unstable network. A usability test done in Pakistan also approved some of the usability problems we found in navigation, mostly related to menus, e.g. Shortcut menu was hard to find. Another important issue to mention is that fact that system does not speak the user language. It is difficult for the user to find out the reason for an error when the system only displays a number for error message.

Based on our evaluation we have suggested some improvements for the system, which we believe can improve the user experience when interacting with the Opera Mini.

6.2 Further work

As mentioned in chapter 2.2, younger people eager to experience the opportunities of new technologies such as SMS, MMS and email, and their use of mobile communication in general.

It could be interesting to consider opportunities in the market of younger people. Our findings indicate that young people use new technologies for communication, and they are the ones who are most willing to exploit new features. In the rural areas there is a problem of illiteracy; especially those in older generation may be illiterate[4]. Culture, religion and ethics that differ from the western world are an important reason to why this user group is interesting. For an example it is not common for single people to meet or date people from the opposite gender. Even direct communication can be seen as improper and the risk for rumour spreading around the village and damaging the persons “honour“, and by that even damaging the reputation of the family. As mentioned earlier they mostly use SMS and email. Chat services are also being popular for getting to know/flirting with the opposite sex. Furthermore, downloading music and games seems be more prominent in the developing world. An example is the great interest of media related to Bollywood. Based on such issues younger people are turning into mobile technology in order to communicate.

- 33 - 7 References

- 34 - 8 Appendix

8.1 Telecom providers

As of December 2006 Pakistan has 48.5 million subscribers in total, or a 29.25% penetration rate. Pakistan has six main providers of mobile networks. These companies are respectively:  Warid Telecom is an Arab based company. The firm started to operate in Pakistan in May 2005. Within 80 days after the start, Warid Telecom already had approximately 7.6 million subscribers.  Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited, known as “Mobilink GSM. Mobilink had over 22 million customers at the end of December 2006.  Ufone is a daughter company of Pakistan Telecommunication Company. Based on GSM technology Ufone had 10.2 million numbers of subscribers as of December 2006 and obtains network coverage in more than 750 cities.  Telenor is a Norwegian telecommunication company. The company started to provide telecommunication in Pakistan in March 2005. Presently Telenor holds the second largest GSM, the largest GPRS and EDGE coverage in Pakistan.  Paktel was the first company ever granted license to carry out cellular phone services in Pakistan. It holds about 1.3 million subscribers as of December 2006.  Instaphone introduced mobile telephony in 1991 and holds coverage to an ever expanding network of 185 Cities with about 0.2 million subscribers as of December 2006

- 35 - 8.2 Quick facts - Pakistan

Background The separation in 1947of British India into the Muslim state of Pakistan (with two sections West and East) and largely Hindu India was never satisfactorily resolved, and India and Pakistan fought two wars - in 1947-48 and 1965 - over the disputed Kashmir territory. A third war between these countries in 1971 - in which India capitalized on Islamabad's marginalization of Bengalis in Pakistani politics - resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. In response to Indian nuclear weapons testing, Pakistan conducted its own tests in 1998. The dispute over the state of Kashmir is ongoing, but discussions and confidence-building measures have led to decreased tensions since 2002. Population below poverty line: 24% (FY05/06 est.) Area 803,940 sq km Population 165,803,560 (July 2006 est.) Religions Muslim 97% (Sunni 77%, Shi'a 20%), other (includes Christian and Hindu) 3% Languages Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official; lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski and other 8% Telephones – main lines in use 5,162,798 (2006) Telephones – mobile cellular 48,289,136 (2006) Telephone systems General assessment: the telecom infrastructure is improving dramatically with foreign and domestic investments into fixed-line and mobile networks; mobile cellular subscribers has skyrocketed, approaching 50 million in late 2006, up from only about 300,000 in 2000; fiber systems are being constructed throughout the

- 36 - country to aid in network growth; main line availability has risen only marginally over the same period and there are still difficulties getting main line service to rural areas. domestic: microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, fibre-optic cable, cellular, and satellite networks Internet users 10.5 million (2005)

CIA - The World Fact book – Pakistan [2].

- 37 - 8.3 Scenarios

- 38 - - 39 - - 40 - Scenario 2, Use Opera Mini to read interesting news

Sitting on my favourite café eating lunch I overheard two people next to me talking about a large terror-attack. All that I could hear was that a large number of people were killed. I was curious, so I started my Internet browser and pointed it to the largest newspaper in Pakistan. There was nothing about a terror attack in the latest news section. Maybe the two guys were talking about something else? Just to check, I pointed my browser to CNN’s website. Suddenly I see a large picture of buildings in fire and people screaming. Just ten minutes ago a large terror attack took place in London, the capital of England.

Scenario 3, Use Opera Mini to book tickets

Twenty minutes later I got an interesting call from one of my sources. He told me that later that day a very interesting meeting is taking place. A great business man from Europe, he did not know who, was going to meet the director of Pakistan’s largest corporation to talk about a purchase. The meeting takes place in a small city in the north of Pakistan because nobody should know about this, especially journalists. I suddenly needed a ticket with the airplane. I tried to call to the airport, but the phone lines were broken. Last month I had seen a commercial on TV about booking tickets over the Internet, maybe I could try it. I pointed my mobile web browser to right site, and there was a link called “book online”. It took me about five minutes to book a ticket, I was a customer already. Why have I not tried this before? I asked myself when I was looking for a taxi to the airport.

- 41 - - 42 - - 43 - - 44 - Scenario 2, Use Opera Mini to check news

Not only was the newspaper delayed. Also some new products I have ordered were delayed. This is strange, and because of this I had nothing to do. Just to kill some time, I pointed my Internet mobile browser to the local newspaper. I was curious about of one the headlines: “Traffic chaos in the morning rush”. I clicked it, and the picture showed at least ten cars in the middle of the main street. The street had been blocked for two hours now. No wonder I have not got my products yet, the car has to be stuck in traffic.

Scenario 3, Use Opera Mini to download games

I was restless and wanted to do something fun. And it seems like the traffic is still jammed. Last night at dinner my two sons were arguing about who had the record in the new game they had downloaded to their mobiles, I think it is called Tetris. Tetris is the most popular game at the time. Maybe I could try to break their record. I think they will be very surprised if I do. I remember I had seen a TV commercial with mobile games, mobilegames.com. I pointed my mobile Internet browser to the URL. On the top of the page there was a link called “most popular”. I clicked it, and in second place I saw Tetris displayed. I clicked the link, and in a few minutes I had downloaded the game.

- 45 - 8.4 Use case

Using Opera Mini browser

Book flight -ticket Internet

Download games

Mohammed Abid Read digital newspapers

- 46 - 8.5 Work and Communication

8.5.1 Milestones At the start up of our project we developed a milestone plan for ourselves. A milestone plan is very useful in a way that you have to relate to deadlines, and you can work with smaller pieces of the project. During the project we had to adjust some of the dates, but this is the original plan:

Name Date Description M1 09.02.07 When wondering document is written down M2 13.03.07 When user analysis is done M3 21.03.07 When midterm report is written down M4 18.04.07 When heuristic evaluation is done M5 02.05.07 When proposals for improvement of current solution is done M6 09.05.07 When final report is written down

8.5.2 Group meetings We decided to have a two hours group meeting every week. The day before the meeting, we sent an email with an agenda of what we were going through. In the meeting we distributed work, planned next milestone, evaluated last milestone, and generally discussed important issues related to the project. We also had occasionally meetings just before some of the milestone deadlines.

We also had an arranged meeting with our external partner, Opera Software, early in the project. The main purpose of this meeting was to discuss the problem description.

8.5.3 Communication In addition to group meetings our main communication channel was email. During the project we emailed updated versions of our document. In a small project like this, this communication form is ok. We also communicated through SMS and phone when necessary.

- 47 -