Mobile Internet Technologies 4

WEEK 4

There was a healthy discussion on Screen Size. To quote – “The smaller the screen size the greater the burden on short term memory. Smaller screen size will also result in having vertical and horizontal scrolling. The latter especially needs to be avoided as much as possible especially for textual information as it is very inconvenient for the user.

Following up on the topic various aspects of information visualization were discussed:

·         Graphical – Will help user make sense of vast sets of information.

·         Filters – To refine set of possibilities to reduce user time.

·         Focus + Context – Allow users to see detail while retaining an overview.

·         Collapse to Zoom – Allow users to magnify a specific region.

Certain concepts related to mobile data mining were also discussed. As the potential data size is huge, it is very important to derive concrete and concise information from that data. Data mining is the extraction of interesting, meaningful, implicit, previously unknown, valid and actionable information from a pool of data sources.

Lastly, privacy management was discussed as mobile phones are prone to privacy related thefts and attacks. The information should be kept anonymous and users should be authenticated while trying to access confidential information.

We finished the mobile app development. The design was drawn out and the target group was updated.

Mobile Internet Technologies 3

WEEK 3

The primary focus was on revenue sharing and business models. Various technical factors related to m-business were also discussed like infrastructure, capabilities, standards etc. We also discussed a little about ubiquitous computing; something that is existing and available everywhere. Various mobile business applications were identified. They are:

·         Online

·         Offline

·         Type of connecting networks

·         Type of handheld devices

The core business models discussed were the following:

·         Paid model: Charge money from the users to download the app. The money received can then be shared between the creator of the app and the provider. Generally Apple follows a 70-30 sharing model.

·         Sponsorship: Mainly works with brands wherein brands pay you for utilizing space on your app.

·         Freemium: Certain features will need to be paid for but the basic app is available free of cost.

·         Completely Free: Money is primarily through advertisements. It can be downloaded free of cost.

Lastly, 5Ds were discussed which need to be considered while developing a mobile app. These are a more higher level points as compared to the ones mentioned in the “Steps to design mobile app” discussed on the blog of Week 2. They are - Define, Design, Develop, Deliver and Depend.

For the project, we finished analysing the trends in the mobile industry and also identified our objective and mission statement. We also identified the alliance partners and came up with a high level overview of the product catalogue. We also discussed the marketing strategy that can be adopted to promote our app.

Mobile Internet Technologies 2

WEEK 2

WEEK 2

The key steps in designing a mobile application:

·         Idea Creation: The idea drives what the app will do or look like. This idea stems out of a user need. Once that need is identified, the focus shifts to how we can meet that need and if we have the technical capabilities to do so. The aim is to come up with a killer application!

·         Selection of IT partners: The technical capabilities aspect mentioned above is addressed in this aspect. Which technologies to be used, do we have in-house capabilities etc. are some questions that need to be answered.

·         Decide on platform: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows and Palm etc.

·         Design the UI: The success of any mobile app depends on the UI and how easy it is to use the app. For example too much data is never good as it is difficult to read a lot of content on the phone. Also navigation must be clear and easy. All these various factors need to be considered very carefully as they play a huge role in determining the success of the app.

·         Software Development: Actual implementation of the idea.

·         Testing the app: Iron out any bugs or issues that might arise. Ensure the final outcome is not too different from the initial design.

Even after the above are considered there is still a chance that the design is not good. The below are few reasons for that:

·         Perceived financial cost of the design

·         Overwhelming emphasis on technology than purpose

·         A lack of user based debugging

And to finally end the discussion on design, a few disadvantages (3Es) to the user of coming up with a bad design are mentioned below:

·         Emotional

·         Economic

·         Ethical

For our group project, we continued with our previous discussions and tried to identify what sort of products could be sold through our app. Since we wanted to implement green technology, we came up with a tentative list of companies and products which are environment friendly. The other aspects of the app like third party requirements, basic design etc. were also discussed.

Mobile Internet Technologies 1

WEEK 1

The first aspect that really struck me as striking was the list of mobile applications that was displayed. They seemed very comprehensive covering various domains. I felt that a list like that would be very useful, not just for understanding the business idea but also for using them in the future as I am a smart phone user. I decided that I would get a first-hand feel by actually downloading as many apps as I could and then use the concepts taught in class to evaluate the apps.

The concept of developing our own mobile phone app was very challenging and exciting. It was something we had never done before in MBA and I instantly decided to do my best and started planning out the sector/industry where it could be used. As mentioned above, being a smartphone user who constantly looks out for various apps to gain more and more utility the idea of me designing an app was very interesting.

The theory started with a brief of the ecommerce industry. We discussed the ABC of business and its building model. The 3-dimensional model – Process, Product and Commerce made a lot of sense. This was followed by differences between ecommerce and m-commerce. The differences were critical in understanding the rest of the concepts we were to learn. The discussion then completely shifted to m-commerce from then on. The successful components of a mobile application were identified to be strong architecture, good process models and understanding the user needs and providing the best value to them. The three major aspects/value that a mobile business offers were identified to be Location, Utility and Urgency. As the words suggest, these are the three aspects that one would expect from a mobile application. The related facets of mobility that we discussed were:

·         Location Independence Mobility

·         Time Independence Mobility

·         Customer Centric Services

·         Tailoring Information and Services to a specific context

The medium of mobile business can cover the following areas – Communication, Location, Information and Payments (CLIP).

For our group project, we decided to choose an m-commerce related app. We believed that for a company to make a really good app, the business idea or money making aspect is a very important motivation factor. Hence any app to boost sales of its products and thus revenue would fit perfectly into that idea. We also wanted to do things a little differently and hence decided to adopt green technology in some form or other.