March 29, 2001: GSA - the Global mobile Suppliers Association - has unveiled a Special Focus supplement to its quarterly series of independent surveys into Mobile Portals, evaluating 69 mobile portals in 17 countries for services and associated usability issues. The objective of the Usability Special Focus, conducted by Satama Interactive, is to provide a qualitative assessment of the usability of different types of European mobile portals. It covers a selection of European mobile portals' web and WAP services, with a focus on the WAP services.

GSA President, Alan Hadden, is presenting the findings from the latest report at the KC Global conference "Mobile Portals Europe", taking place in London from 29-30 March 2001. He commented:

"Building on our first survey that was launched in February, we wanted to research how the service offerings from mobile portals are developing, looking at what are now considered to be "must-have" services, plus the range of "nice to have" services. It was interesting to see the diversity of the latter group, ranging from lifestyle services, such as games, to travel-related features, and personalised web and WAP menu facilities. 50% of the portals we surveyed now offer PIM tools, as well as supporting purchases and balance checking - something we will continue to monitor in future, to see the growth of these aspects. In addition, we found that less than half the portals surveyed offer transaction-based data - namely, access to an individual account; community features, such as chat, clubs and forums; and location-based services. Only 25% or less currently offer betting, stock trading and auctions, with real rarities being device differentiation, PDA-related information, and multiplayer games. We did, however, see a high level of easy-start wapping, and free instructions/settings via SMS. As the second in our series, we are looking to build on this initial service-related data, and plan to widen the research brief to encompass ownership structures and development issues in future."

The quarterly GSA survey is undertaken by research specialists Satama, with the primary objective being to provide insight to a selection of mobile portals, as well as aiding the future evolution of portal development strategies. Looking at the current line-up of WAP services on offer, the survey provides trends information and analysis, together with a comprehensive mapping of the services available. Using a similar survey conducted during the year 2000 as a comparison basis, Satama is building up a comprehensive picture of mobile portal development, focusing principally on Europe.

Click here to download a copy of the full report.