Written by: Didier Chincholle, Michael Björn, Cristian Norlin and Morgan Lindqvist

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Delivering a great user experience in the simplest possible way is often a complex task. To succeed, one must understand and translate user needs, expectations, technical opportunities, and constraints into an adequate design.

The authors describe the user-centered approach that was used to develop an IMS-based service for mobile communities. The service concept, which supports text (instant messaging, IM) and voice communication (VoIP), uses the IMS core system, presence and group management (PGM), application servers (AS) and media resource function processors (MRFP). The authors also discuss key findings from end-user studies and their pertinence to the project.

Introduction
Today's young people are surrounded by communication technologies that have a central place in their daily lives, such as the internet and mobile phones. Text messaging (short message service, SMS), for example, became a fully established phenomenon by the late 1990s. And teens were especially quick to adopt it. Today, SMS is the second most used mobile phone service (after voice) in Europe and in parts of Asia. At the same time, instant messaging (IM) has emerged as a favorite tool for online communication. This is because IM enables users to exchange messages in real time. People today employ IM to maintain existing friendships, enhance their social status, make new friends, and manage the demands of daily life.

Compared with PC-based IM, the outlook for mobile-phone-based IM is less clear, since it is still a niche service, especially compared with SMS. Notwithstanding, PC-based IM service providers, such as Yahoo! and Microsoft MSN, are taking measures to expand into the mobile domain, in order to attain a prominent position in the mobile IM market.

In 2006, Ericsson Research developed and implemented an IMS-based service prototype for mobile communities. The service simultaneously supports IM, voice calls, live video sharing, and presence information. To optimize the user experience, Ericsson evaluated the concept using typical IM users; that is, teens and young adults.

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