Going Mobile!

How time flies! It's been a very busy time of late ... which is somewhat of an understatement.

Welcome to our link list for Mobile Experience.  Each week we'll list five links we thought were interesting or cool and add our thoughts about the impact on the mobile user experience.

1. Firefox Sync for iPhone
Firefox are showing off a video of a beta iPhone app, called FireFox Home that aims to make moving between the PC and mobile web browser seamless.  When opening the app you can access your Firefox browser bookmarks, and even the tabs you had open on your PC browser.  

I'd use this alot, as I'm always leaving tabs open to read later.  It would be great to access them on the go, especially there was an iPad version.

2. Android Fragmentation
This is an article on a few of the issues with the fragmentation of the Android OS.  I also think that apart from the technical aspects of fragmentation, the fragmentation of the Android user experience is also an issue for discussion.  From a customer point of view, there isn't an Android user experience this allows the manufacturers to add their own UI tweaks on top.  

This has both positives and negatives.  For example, Mark Pesce has been using an HTC Desire for a week (that was given to him by Telstra) and isn't  fan of the HTC Sense UI but likes the benefits of Android (see: http://desire.markpesce.com/).  

I've been waiting for a few months for HTC to come out with an update of the Android OS on the HTC Hero, which is stuck at 1.6 because they need to update the design of their UI layer to match the updated OS.  

But diversity and experimentation in UI and UX is also good, and manufacturers like it because they can create the "Sony Ericsson" UI, and if customers like it they'll buy another one of the same brand next year.

3. Archetypes and Their Use in Mobile UX 
This is a great article on Johnny Holland that looks at archetypes, and the potential archetypes for Mobile User Experience with some interesting examples of each.  The application centric archetype is the most popular one currently, but it will be interesting to see the success of the other approaches.

4. Gestures Blog Post by Lukas Mathias 
The brilliant Lukas Mathias discusses the recognition vs recall aspect of gestures for interfaces.  Some gestures will be taken up very quickly and expected by users, e.g. swipe to turn the page on an iPad book, while others will be harder to discover and less frequently used.  

We expect people's memory of expected gestures to increase, as more people engage with touchscreen devices and look for faster/more efficient ways to interact with them, but of course the important functions shouldn't rely on invisible gestures.

5. iPad launches in Australia
Last, but not least, Australian iPad apps are starting to make their way onto the App Store in preparation for the launch of the iPad locally tomorrow (Friday 28th May).  We know many companies who are working away on iPad apps and are helping out a few ourselves.  

Rod & I have been using our iPads for over a month now and it's interesting to note the different ways you use an iPad to an iPhone or normal mobile device.  It's a very different user experience.  While we've had the WiFi version, we're also waiting for the delivery truck to arrive and bring us a 3G version (We'll complain about the TNT Express user experience another time...).  

And now for the link: Here's a quick interview with the 1st people in line for their iPad outside the Sydney Apple Store

We're currently putting the final touches on the design for our first iPad project.  It's been an interesting experience designing for a device that few people have used.  However, one of the checks we have in place is to do usability testing on the app (prior to Australian launch of the iPad), so that we can tweak the final designs for this unique device.  We've learnt a lot by talking to people about how they expect to use the iPad in our user research sessions, and we'll learn even more watching how people engage with the device and it's applications during usability testing.

I was recently interviewed about my thoughts on Mobile Banking on the iPad. I think it's a device with the potential for a whole new usage model and categories of applications; more interactive (e.g. two handed multitouch), as well as being able to display more content/information than an mobile phone, and being more convenient to carry and faster to access than a laptop.  These richer, and potentially more complex, applications require a deep level of understanding about how customers/users will be interacting with the device, matched with great user interface and interaction design.  So it's an exciting time for us.

PS: We also got our Pogo Stylus' the other day.  While I find them very "thick" for drawing on the iPhone, but I'm keen to try them on the iPad

Rod can be a bit shy, so I'll be the one to congratulate him for winning an AIMIA Award last Friday night.  As the lead of the team at VHA, & together with Front Foot, they won the "Best Mobile Product or Service" Award for the Three iPortal design. Congrats to all involved!

Unfortunately there can only be one winner, so I had to settle for having a mobile portal I researched and designed be a finalist in the same category.  I'll have to try even harder next year :-)

Our company is 4 days young, and the fantastic reception we have received from people has been overwhelming. Wherever we go, we are met with words of congratulations and enthusiasm. We are slowly ramping up our activities. In addition to new projects, we have a lot of speaker engagements lined up over the coming weeks: 

• ad:tech
• WebDU
• CeBIT

We're looking forward to getting out there and talking to people about mobile and user experience.  

Once again, thank you for the amazing support! 

We have just opened our doors, and whilst there is a lot of exciting work to do (including this website), we thought we'd take a moment to say "Hi!" 

Mobile Experience is Rod Farmer and Oliver Weidlich. Mobile Experience is a User Experience consultancy specialising in mobile and emerging technologies. Together, Rod and Oliver have delivered award-winning mobile designs, innovative research, and differentiating strategies for many of Australia's leading companies. In a nutshell, we are leaders in Mobile Research, Strategy and Design.

Together, our goal is to help companies define, design and deliver outstanding mobile user experiences. 

Rod and Oliver have collaborated over a long period of time, and it was somewhat inevitable that two people so passionate about Mobile User Experience and Emerging Technologies would end up creating something new and exciting. Well, it's definitely new, and you can't imagine how excited we are about this company.

Here's a quick overview of our areas of expertise that may be of interest to you and/or your business:

• Mobilising Products and Services: We are experts in mobile research, strategy, design and testing. Combined, we have either consulted to or lead many of Australia's most successful mobile content and service products.
• Mobile Web-Site and Application Design: We have helped create some of Australia's most recognised and successful mobile web-sites and mobile applications. From Samsung and Nokia, to iPhone and Android - we know what it takes to design engaging mobile products and services.
• Mobile User Research and Experience Strategy: From laboratory-based usability testing to field/ethnographic customer research; developing and executing UX strategy roadmaps at both project and organisational levels. Our experience delivering mobile strategies and mobile experience roadmaps in the Australian telecommunications sector is second to none. 
• Mobile Device Customisation: We have worked with almost every major handset manufacturer, helping to customise their devices for improved service integration, content distribution, and improved usability. We can help your company understand how to design for a thousand different devices, but more importantly, when not to!
• Mobile Service Design: Understanding how your customers interact with your business over mobile and other channels over time and across touch-points. This is a new field, and one which we have helped pioneer in the telecommunications sector.
• Organisational UX: We have extensive experience in growing effective UX teams, creating appropriate UX management techniques, improving organisational effectiveness and communication, and measuring and motivating UX success. 
• Training: We provide structured training courses and bespoke workshops to help companies improve their internal ability to create valued mobile designs and user experiences.

These are our primary areas of interest, and whilst our business focus is on "mobility", we also possess extensive experience with web-based, desktop, enterprise and social systems design, spanning E-Commerce, Banking, Healthcare and BSS/OSS Transformation projects. Basically, this means we are capable of working with you across a range of areas, and with a range of problems.

So, that's a lot to remember on your first visit. Perhaps it's best just to remember that we create great mobile experiences.

Our new site will be up soon. In the meantime, keep coming back and hearing more about what we are doing.

Oliver & Rod

Directors