Vodafone and 3 'top for mobile portal usability'

New research has suggested that UK consumers view Vodafone and 3 as having the best mobile portals in terms of design and usability in the UK, mobile internet marketing executives may be interested to read.

Carried out by Strategy Analytics, the study consisted of one-on-one research sessions with consumers and found that the two portals were preferred over similar offerings from O2, Orange, T-Mobile and non-operator MSN.

Vodafone's Live! portal was praised for its modern design, although consumers were found to be "not satisfied" with the number of portal homepage icons available, said Chris Schreiner of Strategy Analytics. Portals with mobile TV were found to be the most likely to be successful, while three of the operators studied did not make downloading music tracks as easy as they could.

"Our research shows that consumers require a simple but informative purchasing and downloading experience," stated Kevin Nolan, vice-president of the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice. "Also, when searching for mobile content most operator portals have room for improvement."

Separate research from the firm also found that UK consumers are becoming more accepting of mobile device-based navigation applications.

Associated Link: Vodafone, 3 'top for mobile portal usability'

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