Talk for IA Summit 2013 by Chuichui Tan (@ChuiSquared) eBook on International User research by Chuichui Tan: https://gumroad.com/l/JmON

1. Your mobile experience is not theirs
Why your users in Asia will never be like your users in the West
Chui Chui Tan @ChuiSquared #GlobalMobileUX
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rager/3837239258/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Thursday, 11 April 13

2. sh as to be the case
It seems it alway
where one co u ntr y lea ds (e.g. in
, in frastructure) an d
tech nology, e ducation 10
tc h up -> “In dia is
others have to ca
year s behin d the US”
Thursday, 11 April 13

3. h
The linear hu m an evolution whic
we are all fam iliar w ith - start
.
sim ple, en d a dvance d
ot at all like this.
But, evolution is n
Thursday, 11 April 13

4. is
This is the real evolution. No one
e
rts fro m one bas
a dvance d. All sta
an d ev olves differently. nd
Each creature fi n ds their niche a
t.
evolve base d on their environmen
Thursday, 11 April 13

5. Kännykät
Finnish
Cellphones Mobile phones Handys 手机
Keitai Denwa ‘Hand-machine’
North America UK Germany Móviles ‘Portable phone’ China
Spain Japan
Celulares
South America
Haendeu Pon
‘Handphone’
Korea
e
mobile phones. W
It’s the same for ne
to beco me so meo
are not evolving we
in ter ms of how
in San Francisco se
use o ur mobile p hones just becau
s are develo pe d in
most technolog ie
San Francisco. .
We nee d to un d erstan d the niche
Thursday, 11 April 13

6. The mo bile market is o utsi de the
Number of States.
mobile subscriptions
6 billion
World
4 billion
2 billion
United States
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Thursday, 11 April 13

7. +192.5%
since 2010
The growth is in Asia.
Within 2 years, the mobile traffic
has increase almost 200% in Asia.
Thursday, 11 April 13

8. +192.5%
since 2010
US or the West is NOT the ultimate
destination in the evolution process.
.
What shape the evolution niche is culture
Thursday, 11 April 13

9. CULTURE Culture is a BI
many aspects.
base d on the e
G word. It co ver
Each aspect evolv
s
nvironment an d it
w a society evolv
es.
es
shapes ho
Thursday, 11 April 13

10. Language
is
The first a spect to culture
language.
Thursday, 11 April 13

11. Chinese writing is
Tra ditionally, the .
fro m right to le ft, to p to botto m
th e mo dern world,
T hings change. In ht,
bo oks are printe d fro m left to rig
horizontally.
Thursday, 11 April 13

12. It’s definitely the case in the digital
world (from left to right) - for
Mandarin, Japanese as well as
Korean.
Thursday, 11 April 13

13. Chinese use Pinyin to enter Chinese
character, using the same keyboard
as in the West.
E.g. Shou Ji (手机) - mobile phone in
Mandarin
Thursday, 11 April 13

14. Chinese use Pinyin to enter Chinese
character, using the same keyboard
as in the West.
E.g. Shou Ji (手机) - mobile phone in
Mandarin
Thursday, 11 April 13

15. Or by using built-in writing
recognition on smartphones or
touchscreen devices.
Thursday, 11 April 13

16. Handphone: haen deu pon
b j d g s yo yeo ya ae e
m n - r h o eo a i
e
Korean Hangu l writing - has th
k t ch p yu u eu nu mbers of keys on
same layo ut an d e
the keyboard as we have in th
West.
Thursday, 11 April 13

17. Handphone: haen deu pon
h ae
핸 n
b j d g s yo yeo ya ae e
m n - r h o eo a i
First character - haen
s
H + ae + n : All three letter
k t ch p yu u eu r.
co mbine d into one characte
Thursday, 11 April 13

18. Handphone: haen deu pon
헨 드
d
드 eu
b j d g s yo yeo ya ae e
m n - r h o eo a i
eu
Secon d character - d to
k t ch p yu u eu d + eu : Two letters co mbine d in
one character.
Thursday, 11 April 13

19. Handphone: haen deu pon
p
핸드 폰 o
n
b j d g s yo yeo ya ae e
m n - r h o eo a i
Thir d character - pon
s
k t ch p yu u eu P+o+n : All three letter
r.
co mbine d into one characte
f
Han dphone in Korean is ma de o
rs.
the se three characte
Thursday, 11 April 13

20. it
With different writing systems,
e
seems cu mber so me to type. Th
tem
truth is, the K orean writing sys
n dly. Yo u can type
is ver y dig ital-frie
.
faster than in English
Thursday, 11 April 13

21. Don’t m ake assu mptions.
in
If yo u’re to design for users
to
differe nt co untries, get
ge
un derstan d how their langua
works.
Thursday, 11 April 13

22. #1 English
#2 German #1 English
#2 German
#1 English
#2 Russian #1 Japanese
UK Germany #2 English
Russia
#1 English #1 Chinese Japan
#2 Italian #2 English
France Italy China #1 Korean
#1 English #2 English
#2 French
on the Apple App
Korea
ch
Distimo did a resear o ut
an d iPa d, fin ding
Store for iPhone by
whether loc alisation of apps
ue. #1 English
languages c an increase reven #2 German
re
apan an d Korea a
Australia
Users in China, J ir
ps that support the
keen to pay for ap
language. es.
ro v ide local languag
I t’s important to p
Thursday, 11 April 13

23. Translating part of the content
on your website is going to do
All
more damage than good.
Translate all of your content or
sometimes it is better not to do
it at all until you’re sure you
can translate everything.
or
Nothing
Thursday, 11 April 13

24. Infrastructure
Another as pect to culture is
infrastructure.
Thursday, 11 April 13

25. 3G
South Korea and Japan are two Asian
countries that are one of the early
adopters of 3G.
Of all mobile connection in Korea, 93%
are 3G.
Thursday, 11 April 13

26. 2G
The majority of the Chinese mobile users
are still accessing the Internet via 2G.
Thursday, 11 April 13

27. 2G Hong Kong
Unlimited plan
Hong Kong (part of China) - more than
half of the HK people have unlimited 3G
data access.
3G, 4G
It might only take a year for 4G to
surpass 3G in HK.
Thursday, 11 April 13

28. Types of phones
be
d in the West w ill
W hat are being use in
w hat is being use d
a lot different fro m
wo rld. It’s not just
other part of the .
iPhone, Samsung , HTC, BB or Nokia
Thursday, 11 April 13

29. But also t he local bran ds...
Thursday, 11 April 13

30. GooPad mini
Only
an d clone versions.
$99
Every inch a GooPad mini
A n d also the co py s
use d on these device
Yo ur apps w ill be
ee or get to hold in
t hat yo u’ll never s
yo ur han d.
Thursday, 11 April 13

31. old
e fo ur sim phone to h
I n In dia, users us it’s
rn etworks because
f o ur sims w ith fo u
me one on the same
c heaper to call so he
call so meone on t
network than to
d ifferent network.
Thursday, 11 April 13

32. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimpierro/509558375/
Thursday, 11 April 13

33. Social Norms
to
Social nor ms is another aspect
culture
Thursday, 11 April 13

34. er
Confucius, a Chinese philoso ph
His
die d 2.5 tho usan d years ago.
reat influence on
teachings have g y.
Chinese an d Japan societ
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vincentraal/5559491159/
Thursday, 11 April 13

35. Confucius teac hing emphasise d t
qu ote: “ The nail tha
colle ctivism. Japanese to
ed down.” Yo u want
sticks o ut is ham mer
f the co m munity.
be seen as part o
http://www.flickr.com/photos/guest_family/2960698523/
Thursday, 11 April 13

36. om
tist s fo un d peo ple fr
Cultural neuroscien d
do not see the worl
d ifferent cultures
ey T HINK differently
d ifferently, but th
ee.
a bo ut what they s
Thursday, 11 April 13

37. h
Kitayama did a stu dy in 2003 w it
a gro up of Nort h Americans an d
Japanese.
His stu dy showe d that Americans
d
pay more atten tion to details an
Asians pay more attention to
context. t
It's important to pro vide conten
that are releva nt to yo ur local
users on yo ur website or apps.
e
Small details li ke this co uld mak
a big difference.
Shinobu Kitayama
Thursday, 11 April 13

38. Thursday, 11 April 13

39. By using fmR I, neuroscientists
of
fo un d t hat: Asians think
d
themselves a s deeply connecte
ns
to othe r peo ple; America
of
a dhere to a strong sense
in dividuality.
nal
This makes r eviews an d perso
reco m men dations much more
the
important in the East than in
West.
Thursday, 11 April 13

40. Mobile apps in China
f all
n cerns abo ut the go o d o
A collectivist society co
the peo ple.
stan t messag ing (IM ) apps
The y spen d more time on in
chat w ith their family,
for gro up chat or au dio or
ss contacts than calling
frien ds an d even busine
text messag ing.
Thursday, 11 April 13

41. Kakao Talk
WeChat
Th ere are a nu mber of IM
ap ps available in Asia an d
all of them have reache d
se veral millions of users in
just a co uple of years.
Line
Thursday, 11 April 13

42. Language
Social norms
CULTURE Mobile
Infrastructure
behaviours
co uld affect the
All aspects which
way mobile is being use d in a
relate d an d they
co untr y are inter r.
constantly in fluence each othe
Thursday, 11 April 13

43. ZeptoLab learnt about China gaming
market from their local partners. They:
- changed their payment strategy
before launching ‘Pudding Monsters’ in
China (because Chinese users are
accustomed to getting free digital
content).
- distribute authorised versions of the
app to free download sites in China to
combat app piracy.
This leads to more daily active users in
China than in the US for this game.
Thursday, 11 April 13

44. 1. Remember the importance of
understanding the culture of the market
that you’re getting into.
2. Go see the society yourself or bring
your apps to them, research and test it
out.
If you don’t want to die out and become
one of the extinct species in the
evolution, you need to understand the
niches where you can survive. Good luck.
Thursday, 11 April 13

45. Thank you
Chui Chui Tan
@ChuiSquared
#GlobalMobileUX
Thursday, 11 April 13