GPRS technology awareness and the interest towards position aware services

• Main Author: Kamaludin, Hazalila
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering; TK5101-6720 Telecommunication. Including telegraphy, telephone, radio, radar, television
• Online Access: http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/7650/1/24p%20HAZALILA%20KAMALUDIN.pdf; http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/7650/

Fundamental of this study is relating to LBS which GPRS is one of the networks that can support LBS. It can be as the access technology and deliverable of LBS info using handheld that is GPRS-enabled. There are many GPRS applications such as location tracking and positioning, file transfer, Internet email, web browsing, video messages and many more. However, even though there is many applications can be developed to be used in GPRS-enabled mobile phone, do mobile users used all those kinds of applications? Do they aware with the technology advent? Besides that, have some difficulties while trying to find out the location of where we are especially in area that we are not familiar. With the advance of wireless teclmology, the location information could be accessed through mobile phone. Location tracking and positioning is a hot area for technological solutions. Introducing such new mobile application based on position-aware requires study to be done on user's awareness of the related technology used and their interest towards the service. Individual factors and technology characteristics are several factors that influence uptake and use of technology. Therefore, the purpose of study is to examine factors that influence user familiarity and usage of GPRS technology. Many factors covered in the' individual factors however, this study focused only on gender, age and education background. This study also identifies level of user's interest with position-aware service. Survey questionnaires in the printed form are used as the primary data collection for this research study. By using categorical data analysis, this research found that individual factor like gender, age and education background are independent from the familiarity and usage of GPRS. Slow speed, unstable connection, expensive charge, and limited content are some of the factors that make users dissatisfied with GPRS services. From descriptive analysis and hypotheses testing, this research found that respondents are interested towards position-aware services.