Ryou+K.+focus+group+report

Ryou K. To: Proximity Mobile Networking Team From: Daniel Saad Date: March 30, 2010 Subject: Focus Group Report

My focus group report is regarding to mobile devices, service providers, and the users. For this, I had five interviews from on and off the campus. The kernel purpose of this interview was to find why the people choose their phone and provider. I could fully cover every five questions that our team developed. The result of interviews was generally shown up that they are satisfied with their mobile devices and the providers. **

Rationale ** U.S. users of smart phones typically buy a subsidized handset from a particular cell phone provider. Consequently they must consider trade-offs between handset features and the price and quality of the cell network. The purpose of our focus groups is to determine what factors influence these decisions, and whether they are driven primarily by the choice of handset or the provider network. We also want to determine the extent to which Gen-Y uses apps. This information will let us better advise Proximity clients about which handsets and networks are most attractive to Gen-Y users.

The 45 min focus group session was held at Star Buck on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 and at Life Time Fitness on Sunday, March 29, 2010. The involved participants were:
 * Setting and Participants**

· Terry – Blackberry, 27 years old, graduated Penn State, Major – Engineering · Sung Ho – iPhone 3G, 27 years old, UMCP Junior, Major – History · Jong Young – iPhone 3GS, 22 years old, UMCP junior, Major – Communication · Eddie – Blackberry, 27 years old, graduated NYU, working at PWC, Major – Accounting · Sue – iPhone 3G, 24 years old, Towson University, Major – Accounting ** Session Topics ** We covered the following five questions during the session __ Why did you buy your particular handset? __ Most of them were satisfied with their devices and service providers. Especially, the iPhone users were satisfied about the design and feeling of screen touch. Moreover, Sung Ho said “the App Store provides countless applications for iPhone, so I can do almost everything with it such as searching restaurant around me with Poynt and sending free text to my friends by WhatsApp.” __

Did the reputation of the cell provider or the kind of network they offer influence your decision? __ Three out of the five interviewees stated that the reputation had no influenced them. They are all iPhone users. They said they choose AT&T because iPhone is offered from only AT&T, and Jong Young was not satisfied with his network provider because the weak 3G coverage. Eddie is one of persons who got influence of reputation of the cell provider. He said “in my experience, Verizon provides more stable signal than AT&T and other providers, and it is very important to me because contacting with clients in anywhere and anytime is very crucial for my career.” __

What features and applications do you use on your mobile device? __ Every person I interviewed was using several applications and features. First of all, all the interviewees were using e-mail through their cell phone. Eddie said “I can check my e-mail from clients anywhere and I could reply them real quick. As a result it makes my relationship with clients much better than ever.” The iPhone users stated they spend most of their free time with free mobile apps from App Store. Sung Ho said “it does not require any money for downloading because there are as many free apps as paid.” __

Are you completely satisfied with your device? If unsatisfied, what would you improve about your device? __ Most of the people were satisfied with their devices. Especially, the iPhone users were generally satisfied with their devices, but they wanted many factors to change for their better mobile life. Jong Young stated that “iPhone does not provide multitasking, so it does not allow plural work in same time.” Sung Ho said “iPhone is not only unbeatably mobile device, but also it is quite closed device. Therefore, it makes people to break the jail.”

__ Are you satisfied with your provider, and will you renew your contract? __ Every interviewee was not fully satisfied with their service providers, but most of interviewees assent to renew their contract with current providers. iPhone users stated that they did not choose AT&T. They choose iPhone. Therefore, I asked that “if other providers offer iPhone such as Verizon, are you going to move your service provider from AT&T?” The most answer was “Yes.” ** Findings ** The session revealed that the involved participants

· Are expecting more stable 3G network environment · Are satisfied with many other useful features and applications for better mobile life · Are expecting service providers offer devices whatever customers want

These findings should be compared with the results from our other sessions with other Gen-Y. Up to near past, the mobile phone was not just making phone call device. It has been using as palmtop, banking tool, gaming device, and many others. Now, people continually want to experience new mobile technology that makes their life more interesting and handy. For this reason, the service providers should satisfy the expectation of the customers.

The majority of the participants are on AT&T. The AT&T users had affirmative attitude about their phone device, iPhone, but they have considerable dissatisfaction about their service network coverage. On the other hand, the Verizon users were satisfying their service coverage, and they, and they did not have complaint about their phone device. However, most of the Verizon users were expecting that iPhone will be serviced by Verizon. Therefore, when Verizon starts to service iPhone, it will bring enormous change on the mobile network service market.