Personal TV: A Qualitative Study of Mobile TV Users
Personal TV: A Qualitative Study of Mobile TV Users
Yanqing Cui1, Jan Chipchase2, and Younghee Jung2
1
Nokia Research Center Helsinki, Ruoholahti, 11-13 Itämerenkatu, Helsinki 00180, Finland
2
Nokia Design Tokyo, Shimomeguro 1-8-1 Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0064, Japan
{yanqing.cui,jan.chipchase,younghee.jung}@nokia.com
Abstract. This paper describes a qualitative user study of mobile phone TV usage undertaken during September 2005 and centered on the real world Mobile
TV usage of paying subscribers of live Mobile TV service in Seoul, South
Korea. The study identified four primary use cases: at home; during the evening commute (both likely to be significantly culturally dependent); macro-breaks; and secret use. Barriers to use include: battery life; screen size; lack of compelling content; poor coverage and design implications are discussed. The study suggests that if the current barriers to use can be overcome Mobile TV is a viable competitor to existing forms of entertainment and media consumption.
Actual usage suggests that Personal TV is a more accurate description for this kind of service than Mobile TV.
Keywords: Mobile TV, Personal TV, Radio, South Korea, Seoul.
1 Introduction
Digital Mobile TV is currently being hyped as the ‘next big thing’ for mobile phones.
Given the difference between the mostly stationary television viewing habits and the inherent portability of mobile phone use what kind of user experience is possible? To answer this question a research team conducted a field study of Mobile TV service subscribers. Seoul was selected as a destination for the study because TU Media, the
South Korean telecommunications operator launched the first commercial live Mobile
TV service in May 2005.
1.1 Background
Seoul has an official population of approximately 10.3 million; however when proximate satellite cities are factored in the size is closer to 48 million. The subway system is the easiest and fastest way to move around
Yanqing Cui1, Jan Chipchase2, and Younghee Jung2
1
Nokia Research Center Helsinki, Ruoholahti, 11-13 Itämerenkatu, Helsinki 00180, Finland
2
Nokia Design Tokyo, Shimomeguro 1-8-1 Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0064, Japan
{yanqing.cui,jan.chipchase,younghee.jung}@nokia.com
Abstract. This paper describes a qualitative user study of mobile phone TV usage undertaken during September 2005 and centered on the real world Mobile
TV usage of paying subscribers of live Mobile TV service in Seoul, South
Korea. The study identified four primary use cases: at home; during the evening commute (both likely to be significantly culturally dependent); macro-breaks; and secret use. Barriers to use include: battery life; screen size; lack of compelling content; poor coverage and design implications are discussed. The study suggests that if the current barriers to use can be overcome Mobile TV is a viable competitor to existing forms of entertainment and media consumption.
Actual usage suggests that Personal TV is a more accurate description for this kind of service than Mobile TV.
Keywords: Mobile TV, Personal TV, Radio, South Korea, Seoul.
1 Introduction
Digital Mobile TV is currently being hyped as the ‘next big thing’ for mobile phones.
Given the difference between the mostly stationary television viewing habits and the inherent portability of mobile phone use what kind of user experience is possible? To answer this question a research team conducted a field study of Mobile TV service subscribers. Seoul was selected as a destination for the study because TU Media, the
South Korean telecommunications operator launched the first commercial live Mobile
TV service in May 2005.
1.1 Background
Seoul has an official population of approximately 10.3 million; however when proximate satellite cities are factored in the size is closer to 48 million. The subway system is the easiest and fastest way to move around
References: 1. Södergård, C. Mobile television - technology and user experiences Report on the MobileTV project (Rep. No. P506) VTT Information Technology, 2003 2 MobileHCI’05. (Salzburg, Austria). ACM Press, New York, USA. 69-76, 2005 3 7-13, 2002 5 Requirements for Mobile TV. In Proceedings of ACM Multimedia 6-12, 2005 November 2005, Singapore 6. NOP world. Mobile TV: Learnings from South Korea. 2005 7 Location in Public Spaces. In Proceedings of the IEE Mobility Conference 2005 (Mobility ‘05) (Guangzhou, China), 3-2B-2, 2005 influences on mobile data service design. In Proceedings of CHI’05 (Portland, Oregon, USA) ACM Press, New York, USA, 661-170, 2005