M-commerce parking meters "need work": study - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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M-commerce parking meters "need work": study

By Stephen Withers, 0
May 26, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/M-commerce-parking-meters-need-work-study/0,130061791,120273831,00.htm

While people are attracted to the benefits of being able to pay parking meter fees by mobile phone--especially being freed from carrying change and being given the option of an SMS reminder before the meter expires--a recent usability study found there is much work to be done before m-commerce becomes widely accepted for this purpose.

In a recent study, the Hiser Group looked at m-commerce parking machines installed by Melbourne City Council, comparing them with the current coin-operated, four-bay parking machines. Participants in the study awarded the latter a five out of five rating, although these are judged as harder to use than traditional mechanical meters which required only that a coin be dropped into a slot.

The m-commerce parking machines only received a three out of five rating by the same group, and some participants found it took 2.5 times longer to complete the transaction than with the coin-only machines. A surprising 20 percent of people polled were unable to complete the transaction by phone.

"People's perception is that paying for parking should be a simple experience," said Susan Wolfe, Hiser's managing director.

Part of the problem is that the choice of paying by phone or coin makes the instructions more complicated. "There's a lot more clutter on the screen because they are dual purpose," she said.

Other complaints offered regarding the screen were that the instructions are presented in a small font, and the display panel is mounted too low for most people and is subject to sun glare.

The transaction dialogue between the machine and the user is very modal, and a time-out blanks the screen if the user takes too long to read the instructions. "It's quite frightening in that regard," said Wolfe.

"The prospects are quite good" for paying parking fees from mobile phones, but it needs the right display technology and better software, she said. "There's a lot of potential if they get it right."