The evolution of mobile-phone technologies such as Smartphones Applications and Services enabled the emergence of digital and smart economies, governments and nations. Many developed and developing countries, like Oman, have considerably invested in the area of Smart Technologies, and initiated countless number of projects such as Smart Governments, also known as Mobile or M-Government, to provide timely, secure, satisfactory and high quality of services for the citizens, businesses and other governmental agencies. Although many scholars have investigated this area of interest with huge amount of efforts, the adoption and actual use of M-Government applications and services, remain problematic and face many challenges. In this area of interest, two major themes of research were reported in the literature: User-centred (i.e., Human-Computer Interaction perspective) and System-centred (i.e., Software Engineering perspective). The first theme remains a hot area of interest mainly due to the importance of the role of end-users in the adoption and success of the new technologies like M-Government. Therefore, this study attempted to develop and empirically validate a novel Mobile Government Adoption Model (titled: MGAM) within the culture of Oman. The MGAM model integrates a well-known theory in this domain, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), with other theories including Psychometric Paradigm Theory (PPT), Customer Culture Theory (CCT) and Personality Trait Theory (PTT) to identify key factors related to the end-users or citizens; those included their Perception of Risk, Culture and Personality Trait. The study adopted quantitative research with Survey method as a research strategy for data collection and quantitative methodology for data analysis. A new data collection instrument was developed for the purpose of this study and distributed through online facilities to collect data about the variables of the MGAM Model from Users in Oman using the M-Government applications and services. Around 450 samples (302 males and 148 females) were collected and considered for the purpose of data analysis in this study. Several statistical tools and means have been used to analyse the data and valuate the MGAM model including Descriptive and Inferential Statistic, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), Comparative Fit Index Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with Statistical Software Applications, SPSS and AMOS Applications. The study revealed that most of the users in Oman using M-Government applications and services were very positive about the Perceived Ease of Use and the Perceived Usefulness of the technology with very positive Attitude and Behavioural Intention towards this technology. The findings also showed that the research participants have a slightly negative Perception of Risk when using the M-Government applications and services in Oman, and positive perception of Culture in this domain. With reference to the MGAM Model, the model was tested and validated, and the findings indicated that the Personality Trait moderator can strengthen the link between Behavioural Intention and Actual Use of the technology. Based on the findings, the study provided key recommendations for the governmental personnel dealing with the development of M-Government applications and services in Oman, and for public users in Oman. Among those, the study recommends for considering this initiative in Oman as a real and strategic shift in public administration, and to make easy, flexible and dynamic M-Government applications and services through taking into account cultural issues and user-related preferences. The study also recommended offering more than a service in one visit by the users, providing information prior to services and training governmental employees on this technology. The main contribution of this work is the development and validation of a new adoption model in the area of M-Government, the MGAM model. Theoretically, the MGAM Model extends the TAM Model through the integration process with with other theories including PPT, CCT and PTT to identify new key factors with impact on the adoption of M-Government infrastructure. This work also makes a novel contribution in terms of research methodology by developing and applying a new data collection tool, i.e., Mobile Government Adoption Questionnaire. This tool can be used by other researchers to collect data on the same research problem from contexts similar to the Omani one. Practically, this work attempted to identify the key prerequisites for the adoption and actual use of technology in the area of public services administration, and then making contribution towards the success of M-Government initiatives. The use of different tests and methods to statistically understand how the Omani end-users make decisions on the use of M-Government is also a novel practical contribution of this work.

<p>The growing market of mobile services through SMS, MMS, WAP and soon also for 3G protocols, requires efficient test methods to ensure that the customers get what they are paying for and in a reasonable time. Preferably, these tests should be done automatically and come as close to real conditions as possible. It would be valuable to be able to make tests from end to end, i.e. requesting and receiving the mobile services on a real mobile phone and combine that with a system that controls and evaluates the tests. </p><p>This thesis presents a solution to how the part of an end-to-end monitoring system for mobile services that runs on a mobile phone can be designed and implemented. The phone is made to interpret commands from a control process on a remote server and turn them into mobile service requests in a proper format (e.g. SMS or MMS). When it receives the reply from a mobile service provider, it forwards the relevant result information to the control process. </p><p>The monitoring system is based on Symbian OS, an operating system developed to suit handheld devices like mobile phones. The current implementation supports tests for SMS and MMS services. </p><p>The system is to be used by mobile operators or other providers of mobile services, which want to test and monitor their services.</p>

<p>With the advent of powerful multimedia capable mobile phones, the market for mobile services is flourishing. Zenterio AB's Halfpipe Active Desktop is a complete distributed mobile service platform a with a powerful server and platform-independent client. The communication between the client and server takes place over a GPRS-capable mobile network. </p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to develop a secure communications protocol for use between the Halfpipe Active Desktop client and server. This is done by determining requirements, analyzing candidate protocols and then by designing the final protocol. The result, the Halfpipe Active Channel protocol, is an authorized, encrypted, session oriented, message based and light weight protocol designed to minimize computational as well as network overhead.</p><p>This master's thesis project was defined by and performed at Zenterio AB during the second half of 2004.</p>

The growing market of mobile services through SMS, MMS, WAP and soon also for 3G protocols, requires efficient test methods to ensure that the customers get what they are paying for and in a reasonable time. Preferably, these tests should be done automatically and come as close to real conditions as possible. It would be valuable to be able to make tests from end to end, i.e. requesting and receiving the mobile services on a real mobile phone and combine that with a system that controls and evaluates the tests. This thesis presents a solution to how the part of an end-to-end monitoring system for mobile services that runs on a mobile phone can be designed and implemented. The phone is made to interpret commands from a control process on a remote server and turn them into mobile service requests in a proper format (e.g. SMS or MMS). When it receives the reply from a mobile service provider, it forwards the relevant result information to the control process. The monitoring system is based on Symbian OS, an operating system developed to suit handheld devices like mobile phones. The current implementation supports tests for SMS and MMS services. The system is to be used by mobile operators or other providers of mobile services, which want to test and monitor their services.

The advance of mobile phone devices and wireless communication have dramatically change the way individuals do for their personal lives and businesses. Nowadays, people can not only talk with their peers located at different places, they can also get the desired information ubiquitously. Business strategies that are based on simple mobile phones have to be adapted to a complex mobile business ecosystem. The mobile phone market in Guatemala has almost saturated, and the mobile operators have to come up with creative ideas to increase their revenues. This thesis explores what the user¡¦s intentions toward mobile services in Guatemala. Understanding users¡¦ intension will allow entrepreneurs to create new business strategies that would fill an existing void that exists on the Guatemalan mobile market.

Mobile devices are becoming widely common today. As the number of mobile devices continue to grow all around the world, its functionality is extending and mobile technologies are gaining more popularity in every aspect of our life. Today, wide range of mobile services is offered to people. The purpose of our study is examining the customer value of mobile services for individuals or citizens. A value model for mobile services has been proposed with five dimensions: Functional Value, Social Value, Emotional Value, Epistemic Value and Economic Value. The effect on each value dimension on Intention to Use (ITU) is aimed to be determined. A survey instrument for mobile Internet services and short message services (SMS) has been developed to validate the proposed model. After assuring the reliability of instrument with a pilot study, data was collected from 303 people working in information and communication technologies (ICT) sector in Turkey. For analyzing proposed model variance-based structural equation modeling (partial least squares) was used. Before evaluating model, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to indentify underlying constructs. Based on EFA results, Functional Value was found to have sub-dimensions namely: Ubiquity Value, Performance Value and Security Value. The measurement model was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The structural model was analyzed using predictive power. For both mobile Internet and SMS, moderate predictive power has been gathered. Finally, the effect of each value dimension on intention to use (ITU) has been evaluated. Ubiquity Value, Performance Value and Epistemic Value have significant effect on ITU for mobile Internet. On the other hand, Economic Value and Performance Value have significant effect on ITU The indications of this research will be valuable for providing information about customer value of current mobile services.

There are two main purposes of this thesis. The first one is to get a better understanding of the aspects affecting customers’ loyalty in the telecommunication industry, in the context of when customers are using the services. The second purpose is to look into what the case company gains by having customers that are more loyal, where the degree of loyalty is measured by the Net Promoter Score metric. The methodology used to carry out the research is a case study with an approach that is both qualitative and quantitative. Where the quantitative approach has the largest share. Two datasets have been used in this thesis, one collected by the authors by sending out surveys and one collected beforehand at the case company. The survey created by the authors aim to let customers assess the satisfaction level with technical and non-technical aspects that can affect loyalty. The dataset that is already collected by the case company document the initial degree of loyalty of customers along with the revenue per customers over a period of years. The two datasets are used for the two different research purposes respectively. The statistical analysis for the data is conducted using the statistical tool Minitab. The findings for the first purpose are that our survey questions can be split into three categories using factor analysis. The categories are Perceived mobile multimedia quality, Perceived broadband multimedia quality and General perceptions. The first two categories are driving customer loyalty and the third category are indicators of customer loyalty. For the second purpose the findings are that the case company has different gains of more loyal customers depending on if the customers are either mobile or broadband customers. More loyal mobile customers stay longer as customers and also buy more. More loyal broadband customers only stay longer as customers. The practical implications of the findings are that the case company has to think of customer loyalty in new ways. There are more indicators of if a customer is loyal than the Net Promoter Score, these are for example customer satisfaction, perceived brand value, perceived overall quality, perceived customization etc. Therefore it would be better to measure customer loyalty not only with the Net Promoter Score Metric but to pick out 2-3 indicators to ask the customer and create an average index for all the questions that can represent the customers’ loyalty. Furthermore there are not a specific variable that drives customer loyalty more or less, several aspects are acting together in two high level groups. Another practical implication is that the gains of more loyal customers are higher for mobile customers since they buy more from the case company and stay longer as customers. However, for broadband customers, they only stay longer. Therefore the Net Promoter Score is not as useful to track for broadband customers. Either the broadband customers should have more opportunities to buy more or another metric should be used for broadband customers.

Este trabalho apresenta uma análise a respeito das restrições técnicas e comportamentais que dificultam a disseminação dos serviços móveis, tais como portais WAP. A análise foca na restrição relacionada à usabilidade das aplicações. Considerando que há um consenso de que a adaptação das aplicações móveis, em função de variáveis de contexto como: perfil do usuário, ambiente de uso e características do terminal e da rede, é uma possível solução para melhorar a usabilidade destas aplicações, analisam-se estas técnicas, concentrando-se na Modelagem do Usuário (MU) como mecanismo para a adaptação e personalização. Pretende-se analisar e testar em que medida esta abordagem de adaptação venha a melhorar a usabilidade destas aplicações móveis. Propõe-se teste de serviço móvel, baseado em uma página WAP, implementada com técnicas que permitam a adaptação. Este serviço permitirá acesso às informações de trâmites e pendências de processos burocráticos da Superintendência Regional do INCRA no Rio Grande do Sul. / This paper presents an analysis about the technical and behavioural restrictions that hinder the dissemination of mobile services, such as WAP portals. The analysis focuses on the restriction related to the usability of applications. Whereas there is a consensus that the adjustment of mobile applications depending on context, user profile, environment of conditions and use the network, characteristics a possible solution to improve the usability of these applications is to analyse these techniques focusing on modeling the User as a mechanism for adaptation and customization. The aim is to examine and test if this approach to adaptation improve the usability of these mobile applications. It is proposed to test mobile service, based on a WAP page, implemented with techniques that allow the adjustment. This service will provide access to the information and outstanding manner of bureaucratic processes of the Superintendência Regional do INCRA in Rio Grande do Sul.

Este trabalho apresenta uma análise a respeito das restrições técnicas e comportamentais que dificultam a disseminação dos serviços móveis, tais como portais WAP. A análise foca na restrição relacionada à usabilidade das aplicações. Considerando que há um consenso de que a adaptação das aplicações móveis, em função de variáveis de contexto como: perfil do usuário, ambiente de uso e características do terminal e da rede, é uma possível solução para melhorar a usabilidade destas aplicações, analisam-se estas técnicas, concentrando-se na Modelagem do Usuário (MU) como mecanismo para a adaptação e personalização. Pretende-se analisar e testar em que medida esta abordagem de adaptação venha a melhorar a usabilidade destas aplicações móveis. Propõe-se teste de serviço móvel, baseado em uma página WAP, implementada com técnicas que permitam a adaptação. Este serviço permitirá acesso às informações de trâmites e pendências de processos burocráticos da Superintendência Regional do INCRA no Rio Grande do Sul. / This paper presents an analysis about the technical and behavioural restrictions that hinder the dissemination of mobile services, such as WAP portals. The analysis focuses on the restriction related to the usability of applications. Whereas there is a consensus that the adjustment of mobile applications depending on context, user profile, environment of conditions and use the network, characteristics a possible solution to improve the usability of these applications is to analyse these techniques focusing on modeling the User as a mechanism for adaptation and customization. The aim is to examine and test if this approach to adaptation improve the usability of these mobile applications. It is proposed to test mobile service, based on a WAP page, implemented with techniques that allow the adjustment. This service will provide access to the information and outstanding manner of bureaucratic processes of the Superintendência Regional do INCRA in Rio Grande do Sul.

Este trabalho apresenta uma análise a respeito das restrições técnicas e comportamentais que dificultam a disseminação dos serviços móveis, tais como portais WAP. A análise foca na restrição relacionada à usabilidade das aplicações. Considerando que há um consenso de que a adaptação das aplicações móveis, em função de variáveis de contexto como: perfil do usuário, ambiente de uso e características do terminal e da rede, é uma possível solução para melhorar a usabilidade destas aplicações, analisam-se estas técnicas, concentrando-se na Modelagem do Usuário (MU) como mecanismo para a adaptação e personalização. Pretende-se analisar e testar em que medida esta abordagem de adaptação venha a melhorar a usabilidade destas aplicações móveis. Propõe-se teste de serviço móvel, baseado em uma página WAP, implementada com técnicas que permitam a adaptação. Este serviço permitirá acesso às informações de trâmites e pendências de processos burocráticos da Superintendência Regional do INCRA no Rio Grande do Sul. / This paper presents an analysis about the technical and behavioural restrictions that hinder the dissemination of mobile services, such as WAP portals. The analysis focuses on the restriction related to the usability of applications. Whereas there is a consensus that the adjustment of mobile applications depending on context, user profile, environment of conditions and use the network, characteristics a possible solution to improve the usability of these applications is to analyse these techniques focusing on modeling the User as a mechanism for adaptation and customization. The aim is to examine and test if this approach to adaptation improve the usability of these mobile applications. It is proposed to test mobile service, based on a WAP page, implemented with techniques that allow the adjustment. This service will provide access to the information and outstanding manner of bureaucratic processes of the Superintendência Regional do INCRA in Rio Grande do Sul.