<p>Studien är en undersökning om hur olika delar av konsumentbeteendet bland applikationsanvändare ser ut. En applikation är ett program eller en tjänst som tillför en ny funktion i mobiltelefonen. Studiens syfte och problemformulering hur olika delar av konsumentbeteendet ser ut och utifrån det ta fram den typiske applikationsanvändaren. Som teoretisk referensram används en bearbetad version av Peter & Olsons (2008) Wheel of consumer analysis som vi kallar konsumenthjulet. Konsumenthjulet består av affekt och kognition, konsumenters omgivning och beteende. Dessa områden för att få en övergripande bild över konsumentbeteendet.</p><p>En kvantitativ studie genomfördes genom en webbenkät för att samla in nödvändig data för studien. Enkätdistributionen skedde via forum och sociala medier för att få en så stor spridning som möjligt bland respondenter.</p><p>I Analysen diskuteras resultatet utifrån konsumenthjulet. Det visar sig att engagemang har stor betydelse för hur applikationer används och delarna av konsumenthjulet påverkas av just detta.  I slutsatsen diskuterades den typiska applikationsanvändaren fram och kortfattat är det en man i 25 års ålder som är en hög engagemangsanvändare av applikationer. För fortsatta studier rekommenderas studier om hur företag ska marknadsföra applikationer och mer djupingående studier som kan besvara <em>varför</em> applikationsanvändare beter sig som de gör.</p> / <p>This thesis is a study about the consumer behavior on the cellular telephone market regarding the usage of applications that can be downloaded and used on the cellular telephone. An application is a program or a service that contributes new functions to the cellular telephone. The purpose and main question of the thesis is to describe how different theory parts of the Consumer Wheel form the typical application user. The theoretical frame of reference was an adapted form of Peter & Olsons (2008) Wheel of consumer analysis, a theory framework used to describe the consumer behavior. The Consumer Wheel consist of three parts; affect and cognition, consumer environment and behavior.</p><p>A quantitative study was carried out through a web-based survey to collect the necessary data for the thesis. The survey was distributed through internet forums and social networks to get as large spread of the survey as possible.</p><p>In the analyze part of the thesis the result is discussed with the Consumer Wheel. Involvement seem to have a large meaning on how applications are used and that the different parts of the Consumer Wheel are influenced by the level of involvement. In the conclusion part the typical application user is presented as a 25 year old male and he is a high involvement application user. Future studies should focus on how companies can market applications and studies on why application users behave as they do.</p>

Studien är en undersökning om hur olika delar av konsumentbeteendet bland applikationsanvändare ser ut. En applikation är ett program eller en tjänst som tillför en ny funktion i mobiltelefonen. Studiens syfte och problemformulering hur olika delar av konsumentbeteendet ser ut och utifrån det ta fram den typiske applikationsanvändaren. Som teoretisk referensram används en bearbetad version av Peter &amp; Olsons (2008) Wheel of consumer analysis som vi kallar konsumenthjulet. Konsumenthjulet består av affekt och kognition, konsumenters omgivning och beteende. Dessa områden för att få en övergripande bild över konsumentbeteendet. En kvantitativ studie genomfördes genom en webbenkät för att samla in nödvändig data för studien. Enkätdistributionen skedde via forum och sociala medier för att få en så stor spridning som möjligt bland respondenter. I Analysen diskuteras resultatet utifrån konsumenthjulet. Det visar sig att engagemang har stor betydelse för hur applikationer används och delarna av konsumenthjulet påverkas av just detta.  I slutsatsen diskuterades den typiska applikationsanvändaren fram och kortfattat är det en man i 25 års ålder som är en hög engagemangsanvändare av applikationer. För fortsatta studier rekommenderas studier om hur företag ska marknadsföra applikationer och mer djupingående studier som kan besvara varför applikationsanvändare beter sig som de gör. / This thesis is a study about the consumer behavior on the cellular telephone market regarding the usage of applications that can be downloaded and used on the cellular telephone. An application is a program or a service that contributes new functions to the cellular telephone. The purpose and main question of the thesis is to describe how different theory parts of the Consumer Wheel form the typical application user. The theoretical frame of reference was an adapted form of Peter &amp; Olsons (2008) Wheel of consumer analysis, a theory framework used to describe the consumer behavior. The Consumer Wheel consist of three parts; affect and cognition, consumer environment and behavior. A quantitative study was carried out through a web-based survey to collect the necessary data for the thesis. The survey was distributed through internet forums and social networks to get as large spread of the survey as possible. In the analyze part of the thesis the result is discussed with the Consumer Wheel. Involvement seem to have a large meaning on how applications are used and that the different parts of the Consumer Wheel are influenced by the level of involvement. In the conclusion part the typical application user is presented as a 25 year old male and he is a high involvement application user. Future studies should focus on how companies can market applications and studies on why application users behave as they do.

Marketing and advertisement activities are transforming as new digital media streams emerge. It is believed that the first major digital transition took place when broadcast media such as television and cinema, also called first screen, to the PC Internet, referred to as the second screen, entered the media industry. The last couple of years saw an expanding transition into the third screen, which is the mobile handset, commonly known as cellphones in South Africa. The rapid explosion of mobile phones and other mobile devices has created a new marketing channel. The use of Short Messaging Service, Multimedia Message Service, Graphic WAP Banners, and Video Clips to communicate with customers through their mobile devices / cellphones has gained popularity, making the mobile phone the ultimate medium for one–to–one or one–to–many marketing. And the more mobile handsets penetrate the mass market, the greater are the opportunities for advertising experiences. This exploratory study investigates the impact / effectiveness of mobile advertising to consumers in the short–term insurance industry. The study briefly focuses on whether marketers are reaping the benefits of using this medium to communicate and market their products and services to the identified target market. The findings indicate that mobile advertising has an impact on consumers in the short–term insurance industry. It was also envisaged that where mobile advertising seems to have no effect, the root of the problem lies in the mass marketing approach. Customers are looking for full customisation of mobile marketing messages, based on their individual requirements, tastes, preferences, location, time, and it should also add value to consumers. For maximum impact, it is also recommended that marketers should build measurements, targeting and optimisation into their campaign processes. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Marketing and advertisement activities are transforming as new digital media streams emerge. It is believed that the first major digital transition took place when broadcast media such as television and cinema, also called first screen, to the PC Internet, referred to as the second screen, entered the media industry. The last couple of years saw an expanding transition into the third screen, which is the mobile handset, commonly known as cellphones in South Africa. The rapid explosion of mobile phones and other mobile devices has created a new marketing channel. The use of Short Messaging Service, Multimedia Message Service, Graphic WAP Banners, and Video Clips to communicate with customers through their mobile devices / cellphones has gained popularity, making the mobile phone the ultimate medium for one–to–one or one–to–many marketing. And the more mobile handsets penetrate the mass market, the greater are the opportunities for advertising experiences. This exploratory study investigates the impact / effectiveness of mobile advertising to consumers in the short–term insurance industry. The study briefly focuses on whether marketers are reaping the benefits of using this medium to communicate and market their products and services to the identified target market. The findings indicate that mobile advertising has an impact on consumers in the short–term insurance industry. It was also envisaged that where mobile advertising seems to have no effect, the root of the problem lies in the mass marketing approach. Customers are looking for full customisation of mobile marketing messages, based on their individual requirements, tastes, preferences, location, time, and it should also add value to consumers. For maximum impact, it is also recommended that marketers should build measurements, targeting and optimisation into their campaign processes. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The astronomical increase in the number of wireless devices such as smart phones in 21th century has revolutionized the way people communicate with one another and share information. The new wireless technologies have also enabled researchers to collect real data about how people move and meet one another in different social settings. Understanding human mobility has many applications in different areas such as traffic planning in cities and public health studies of epidemic diseases. In this thesis, we study the fundamental properties of human contact graphs in order to characterize how people meet one another in different social environments. Understanding human contact patterns in return allows us to propose a cost-effective routing algorithm for spreading information in Delay Tolerant Networks. Furthermore, we propose several contact predictors to predict the unobserved parts of contact graphs when only partial observations are available. Our results show that we are able to infer hidden contacts of real contact traces by exploiting the underlying properties of contact graphs. In the last few years, we have also witnessed an explosion in the number of people who use social media to share information with their friends. In the last part of this thesis, we study the running times of several information spreading algorithms in social networks in order to find the fastest strategy. Fast information spreading has an obvious application in advertising a product to a large number of people in a short amount of time. We prove that a fast information spreading algorithm should efficiently identify communication bottlenecks in order to speed up the running time. Finally, we show that sparsifying large social graphs by exploiting the edge-betweenness centrality measure can also speed up the information spreading rate. / Graduate

Students in Open Distance Learning (ODL) face a myriad of challenges including a low proficiency in English. While research has identified vocabulary as important in improving language proficiency and the pertinent role of interaction in vocabulary development, there remains a dearth of research on how to enhance vocabulary in ODL, a context which is characterised by the distance between students and the institution. In searching for an intervention that would support vocabulary development, including interaction, while taking cognisance of the distance between students and lecturers, this study explored the use of mobile learning (mlearning). Because mlearning technologies offer ubiquitous flexibility and accessibility, they were deemed fit for purpose for ODL which is established on the principles of openness, flexibility and student‐centredness. Using the design‐based research (DBR) method within a pragmatic paradigm, this study designed, implemented and evaluated mobile‐based interventions for vocabulary development. The first phase of the study involved the analysis of the problem through a literature review. The literature and theoretical framework were used to ground the second phase of DBR, which included the development of the intervention prototype in the form of a mobile‐based vocabulary development app called VocUp. The intervention was implemented, tested and refined in three iteration stages, which formed the third phase of DBR. The iterations included a VocUp only stage, followed by a WhatsApp only stage, and ended with a VocUp plus WhatsApp stage. The last phase of DBR involved a reflection and a production of artefacts and guidelines for practice in ODL. Data were collected through interviews and WhatsApp chats from students registered for a first‐year English module. The results were 1) that vocabulary should be explicitly taught, allow for rehearsal opportunities and contain assessment while acknowledging the instrumental role of interaction; 2) mobile interventions should balance the pedagogic benefits with the technological qualities; and 3) the advantages and challenges of using WhatsApp and VocUp can be successfully combined into a hybrid model of both platforms. This study’s contribution to the body to knowledge includes the newly‐designed VocUp as an artefact; a revised model of the CoI theoretical framework called MODeL as well as principles guiding the application of the MODeL in authentic ODL contexts. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)