Title: On the usability of mobile commerce

Authors: Saif AlShaali, Upkar Varshney

Addresses: MIS Department, United Arab Emirates University, AlAin, UAE. ' CIS Department, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302-4015, USA

Abstract: The recent advances in wireless and mobile communications have led to faster connection speeds (currently 64 kbps and predicted to be 384 kbps in 3G), larger device screen size, multiple modes for inputs, and new applications (with the introduction of J2ME). These have also resulted in some serious interest in mobile commerce and some progress has been made in applications, framework, networking requirements, and business models. However, one major issue that has not been addressed so far is the usability of mobile commerce. We believe that the usability depends on several factors including how the information is organised and browsed. In some sense, it is similar to what had happened to the internet after significant increase in connection speeds, computers, the number and variety of websites, and a number of diverse applications developed to satisfy consumer needs. Even with these advances, a majority of users were not able to find the desired information. As there has been significant progress in the usability of websites, we attempt to derive and use the lessons and experiences for enhancing the usability of m-commerce.

Keywords: mobile commerce; m-commerce; wireless networks; usability; mobile communications; information organisation; information browsing; information retrieval.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2005.005872

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2005 Vol.3 No.1, pp.29 - 37

Published online: 23 Dec 2004 *

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