Dubai eGovernment has conducted a Mobile Portal Survey through its portal www.dubai.ae to estimate the ability and willingness of people to use Mobile Internet, an innovative way to allow users to access information and carry out transactions instantly via handheld wireless devices such as mobile phones and PDAs to conduct transactions.
The main objective of the Mobile Portal survey was to assess the feasibility of providing government services via the Mobile Internet as an innovative channel, for government department services, meeting customer needs and increasing usage of online services.
“The Mobile Portal Online Survey allowed us to gain an understanding of people’s readiness to use innovative channels in their daily transactions and the hurdles that prevent them from adopting these technologies," said Salem Al Shair, eServices Director, Dubai eGovernment. "The survey comprised of questions which focused on the demographic aspects of the respondents, the technology that supports their mobile devices and the types of services they deem beneficial."
The survey, which commenced on July 2, 2005, generated a total of 953 responses, out of which 74.1 per cent were from non-UAE nationals, with 87.7 per cent of the respondents being drawn from an age group of 20-40. The results of the survey indicate that 46.7 per cent of the respondents have access to Mobile Internet technologies, but only 30.3 per cent of them actually use the technology. The main barriers to using mobile technology were easy and frequent access to PCs and Laptops, high costs and lack of awareness. The survey also showed that 70.1 per cent of the respondents felt comfortable making payment via mobile.
Among the most desirable government services via mobile technology, the live traffic condition service, was found to be the most popular, with an impressive 45.1 per cent of the respondents requesting the service. Other services such as the prayer times, flight information, utility bill payment, health card renewal were also cited as desirable services, whereas the car plate reservation service registered the lowest request at 9.5 per cent from the respondents.
“The results show that there is enough interest for mobile services and that a large number of people have access to mobile Internet technologies. However, efforts should be made to meet the requirements of users through easy-to-use and short interactive services rather than merely imitating Internet-based services. With the launch of Mobile Portal, which would combine the right set of services with comprehensive awareness campaigns, the popularity of mobile services is set to witness a dramatic rise,” Al Shair said.
Dubai eGovernment will give away mobiles as gifts to winners of the Mobile Portal Online Survey, a move that was designed to ensure extensive participation in the survey. Among the winners are Samson Albert, Amna Mohammed Baqer, Muzaffar Hussain, Ali Al Shaibani and Fatima Helal Abdulla.
Editor’s Note:
Dubai eGovernment is a pioneering initiative in the region to provide online services across the spectrum of corporate and community life in the emirate. It also has a vision to integrate
individually automated government departments under the single umbrella of the eGovernment initiative, thus empowering employees across lines of businesses and levels of government, besides facilitating the lives of citizens and customers of the government. Dubai has taken a lead in the region in deploying eGovernment applications and is among the first few governments in the world to provide such integrated services to its citizens. The eGovernment portal (www.dubai.ae) is a single contact point masking the complexity of the bureaucratic procedures, and guiding access to all services in the easiest possible way. In addition, the eGovernment initiative seeks to improve and enhance procedures by maximizing the benefit from technology, so that users from all walks of life will be able to utilize the portal for their specific needs with considerable ease.
