How People Really Use the Mobile Web - Human-Computer Interaction and Innovation in Handheld, Mobile and Wearable Technologies - page 196

INTRODUCTION usage (both stationary and mobile), descriptions

of patterns of adoption of mobile services, as well
as motivations for mobile technology use. Also, in
designing this study, we took into account recent
work on methods for studying mobile usage.

Why, and in what settings, do people access the
Web on mobile phones? What Web information do
people access and how do they make use of that
information? Understanding the answer to these
questions is important for understanding how
mobile Web services can be made more useful
and accessible in people's daily lives. According
to Morgan Stanley (“Mobile Internet Report,”
2009), mobile Internet devices are predicted to
reach 10 billion units by the end of 2010. This
creates tremendous opportunity for carriers to
offset the decline in voice service revenues with
new Web-enabled services. The mobile design
and development community would benefit from
a better understanding of the underlying motiva-
tions and patterns of current mobile Web usage
to help them target key user needs and desires for
future mobile services.
Past research on mobile Web usage has focused
mainly on characterizing behaviors, settings,
and types of content accessed. This study looks
at motivations as well— why people access the
Web on their mobile phones. In a review of recent
research we found most still focused on adoption
factors and information needs and very little on
underlying motivations that might predict future
use of mobile Web services in a naturalistic setting.
For our study, we defined the mobile Web
strictly as access to Web information available
through either a carrier's portal or a Web site ac-
cessible via a palm-sized mobile device. Using an
augmented diary-study approach, the study first
derived (Taylor et al., 2008) and subsequently
validated (Taylor, Samuels, & Ramey, 2009) a
behavioral, motivational, and contextual frame-
work for understanding mobile Web use.

Usage Classifications

Several studies (before our research and since)
have yielded classification schemes that character-
ize usage of the Web and/or mobile phones, most
with a focus on information needs and behaviors.
Heimonen (2009) examined the physical and
situational contexts of users' mobile information
needs and the information access practices used
to fulfill them to develop a classification of 15
topical mobile information need categories. The
largest was trivia (26.5% of entries), followed by
work/studies/hobbies (15.6%), and then public
transportation (12.2%). The top mobile informa-
tion needs they identified were consistent with our
top behavioral classifications of Fact Checking,
Information Gathering, and Action Support. They
also discovered correlations between types of
information need and the access method.
Church and Smyth (2008) reported a study of
mobile information needs that categorized user
intent as regarding information, geographical data
(local explicit, local implicit, and directions), and
management of personal information; the conclu-
sion stresses the importance of the geographical
and temporal context of mobile information needs.
In a subsequent diary study of mobile information
needs, Church and Smyth (2009) examined the
intent behind those needs and how those needs
change based on context, focusing on browsing
versus search behavior. The study compared us-
ers' needs at home, at work, and on-the-go and
found the clearest time and location dependencies
among on-the-go users. Nearly half (42%) of the
activities pertained to geographical or personal
time management information, with local ser-
vices and travel and commuting ranking highest
(>44%). Their findings also suggest that traditional

RESEARCH BACKGROUND

This study builds on and extends earlier research
studies that have yielded classifications of Web