Mobile Data: If at First You Don't Succeed.........

[Jonathon Watkins]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27461

"A SURVEY commissioned by Olista has shown that most users who encounter problems in using new mobile data services simply give up rather than seek assistance. Shockingly, 64 per cent of those who had actually tried services such as picture messaging, ring tones and gaming downloads confessed to giving up after one or two attempts. That compares to just 2 per cent who claimed they would actively seek assistance from their operator or content provider."

Does this surprise you guys? Do people really give up so quickly on mobile data in your experience? I certainly know that I can be slow to read a product's manual, but this is just daft. I guess it's a case of 'If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried. ;-)

[Jonathon Watkins]

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27461

"A SURVEY commissioned by Olista has shown that most users who encounter problems in using new mobile data services simply give up rather than seek assistance. Shockingly, 64 per cent of those who had actually tried services such as picture messaging, ring tones and gaming downloads confessed to giving up after one or two attempts. That compares to just 2 per cent who claimed they would actively seek assistance from their operator or content provider."

Does this surprise you guys? Do people really give up so quickly on mobile data in your experience? I certainly know that I can be slow to read a product's manual, but this is just daft. I guess it's a case of 'If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried. ;-)

[ChristopherTD]

I think it is a case of people trying something that don't really need or want, just to see what it looks like. When it doesn't work they simply give up.

It is a pretty poor reflection on the services that they are so flaky and tricky to use. As a techie and gadget obsessive I have never had much luck getting any of those things to work, and gave up because they weren't important. I persisted until I had my email working though!

[unxmully]

Perhaps a more relevant problem is the cost of data. On my pay-as-you-go connection, GPRS is £4 per meg. If it were 4 meg per £1 that would be more reasonbable.

As it is, people download a ringtone or two and a video clip, look at what it cost them and decide that really their money is better spent on food and clothing.

I may have missed the point though....

[Clinton Fitch]

This really doesn't surprise me all that much although the numbers are a little higher than I would have thought.

I still think there is a much higher level of acceptance of failure on mobile devices than on desktop devices. For example, people are trained now to accept that cellular call quality is not as high as a land line. They accept this now blindly and don't really push the carriers to try to improve the quality. Part of this is apathy and part of it is just accepting what the cellular companies have said for years - "it is what it is".

Translate that over to Windows Mobile devices or Smartphones (or any other mobile device as the definition is broad) and I think it easily bleeds over into the data experience. There is a tolerance of malbehaving data streams and non-functional or difficult to function downloads on these devices and people just accept it because it's their cell phone or smartphone and the cell company said "it is what it is". The user translates that statement about their cellular quality to the overall quality of the product/device.

[Sven]

I think I go along with ChritopherTDs thoughts. If it were important to folks, they would make an effort. I think the conclusion is that all this data stuff just isn't that important to the average cell phone users, not neccessarily thatit is too hard, or that folks are quitters.

The small number of people that would seek help is probably also indicative of the number that would subject themselves to the expected wait time and marginal assistance for something they don't really care about in the first place.

[WorksForTurkeys]

They analysis of the surveys should have also asked how many people gave up on the services after unsucessfully attempting to get a resolution to their problems from the mobile data service providers. for example I don't use T-Mobile's mobile data services solely because of the difficulties and delays I've encountered attempting to get through T-Mobile's support organization before reaching an actual hands-on technical person.

[bkerrins]

I spent much more effort getting my email working, but could really care less about a new ring tone. Haven't even had the desire to email a photo, particularly at the price the cell phone company is charging. I can't see paying a dollar to download last nights TV show either. I would much rather install Slingbox or use Tivo (neither of which I have switched to BTW).
I do however think that if cell phone companies had "drop in classes" like on a Saturday where people could go to see some demos of what the phone can do, plus be able to ask an expert I think people would show up for that. You can't charge for attendence, but if you're charging a $1/meg to send data, you'll make up for it.

[Sven]

Originally Posted by bkerrins

I do however think that if cell phone companies had "drop in classes" like on a Saturday where people could go to see some demos of what the phone can do, plus be able to ask an expert I think people would show up for that.

Yea, but they'd have to find someone who could teach/lead that class :roll:

[Darren Behan]

I think it's a combination of a bunch of things some of which was mentioned above but I'll recap anyway:

1) Non-Intuitive Set Up: I imagine most users look at things like 192.168.1.1 and wap.voicestream.com with a deer in headlights stare. It must be said that recently iMate at least has been packaging operator settings making this much easier.

2) Uninformative/Non-Existent Error Messages: The things just fail generally. Any error message you get doesn't mean a thing.

3) First Tier Support: In a word - useless. I have never, ever gotten an intelligent response from first tier support for a set up issue. Sadly, I don't often do much better the higher I go. I would hazard a guess that most people don't have the inclination (or the frustration tolerance) to crawl their way up the food chain which can take days.

4) 'Optional' Functionality: Get an iPod that doesn't play music - you'll spend time trying to fix it. If your phone won't make calls - you'll spend time trying to fix it. Sending a picture of a puppy - if it's important to you you'll spend time trying to fix it, otherwise, the phone still makes calls...

5) Not Enough Obsessive Geeks: Much of my life is W?BIC. For instance, I have never sent an MMS message other than to make sure it works & doubt I ever will. That said; I will stay up til 4 AM, tear apart the internet, and suffer through what passes for customer service these days to make sure it does work. No idea why, just the way I am and I suspect I'm not alone on this. My mood is actually impacted by my success or failure. I'm guessing most people probably spend their time with their families, helping the poor, or some other meaningful endeavour - they really need to work on their priorities...

#5 got me thinking and I've done a poll on it here: http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/foru...=374106#374106

[Steve Jordan]

I consider myself pretty tech-savvy. I also know how bad customer service is, especially with all the phone carriers, and the ISPs, most of whom seem to get off on blaming any problems you're having on the other company, and declining to help further. They tend to be not only unhelpful, but extremely frustrating.

So, yeah, when I run into problems trying to get a download or something to work, and I try 2-3 times, I'd rather blow it off than deal with the help line. Only if I really need whatever it is, will I bother talking with them. It's usually not worth the grief.

Customer support desks: Take note. Yes, I'm saying you guys suck.