User-Research-Driven Mobile
User Interface Innovation:
A Success Story from Seoul
Jay Chaeyong Yi
pxd | [e-mail]
Korean market is important
for global players because it is
the first place where most new
devices, mobile technologies,
and services are commercially
launched.
A notable mobile user inter-
face design success story
involves mMessenger, a mobile
instant messenger platform that
pxd, a Korean user-interface
consultancy, and SK Telecom
have been building since 2005
(see Figures 1, 2).
[ 1] Grinter R. et al.
“Wan2tlk?: Everyday
Text Messaging” CHI
2003. Ft. Lauderdale,
Fl, 2003.

January + February 2010

interactions

According to Strategy Analytics, Korean mobile-device manufacturers captured more than 45 percent of the North American market during the first quarter of 2009. Samsung Electronics has remained a top seller since 2008, currently holding a 26. 3 percent market share. LG Electronics holds a 19. 6 percent share, while Motorola trails with 18 percent. The importance of Korean vendors is increasing; not only have they become leaders in certain major markets, but they are also the only companies to report increased total handset sales during this global economic slowdown.

While success stories about
Korean handset designs and
user interfaces (UI) are well-
known, the activities and UI
strategies of Korean telecom-
munications companies are
rarely reported to readers
outside Korea.
South Korea has three
telecommunications compa-
nies: SK Telecom, KT, and LG
Telecom. The market size of
South Korea (about $20 bil-
lion) is smaller than that of
the U.S. (about $160 billion in
2008), but competition for new
services, user interfaces, and
technologies is very tough. The
Mobile-Messaging
User Research Reveals
Opportunities and Risks
By 2005 most carriers had
deployed or had expressed
interest in deploying mobile
ports of existing instant-
messaging services, such as
ICQ, AIM, MSN Messenger, or
Yahoo! Messenger. SK Telecom
also offered a mobile version
of a PC Internet messenger
called NateOn. The mobile
instant messenger seemed
likely to bring in more revenue
than SMS, since teenagers in
Korea frequently have con-
versations via SMS. However,
the outcomes of the first and
second versions of NateOn
Mobile were not particularly
positive. Before SK Telecom
proceeded with developing the
third NateOn upgrade, they
asked pxd to conduct user
research in order to discover
why the main target audience
(young people) did not like the
idea of real-time chatting.