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Weblicon leading user-friendly Online-Organizer
mCommerce World is seeking habitual offenders: user-friendliness as a factor of success for Personal Information Managers / first “Usability 2001” certificate for Germany
Berlin/ Frankfurt a. M., 26th November 2001 – The Berlin software producer weblicon technologies AG is awarded the “Usability 2001” certificate for user-friendliness as the first German company ever. The certificate for the Online-Organizer (Personal Information Manager) is awarded by the Mobile Economy GmbH and eye square GmbH companies within the scope of the mCommerce World in Frankfurt. weblicon underwent a two-month test at a usability lab, where application researchers investigated learnability, user-friendliness and flexibility of the software with different test groups. weblicon is entering new territory with this certification. No software manufacturer of PIM applications has undergone such a test so far.
”The user is always right”, Carsten Brinkschulte, CTO of weblicon technologies, is convinced, “When someone can use the product, when he knows how a software works, then he’ll use it time and again.” Carsten Brinkschulte is leading a promising fight against overloaded user surfaces and programmers in love with technology. His aim is the speedy and inexpensive improvement of user surfaces and interfaces. This is especially true for an Online-Organizer that is to accompany the user intuitively throughout his day.
This is precisely the aim of the weblicon organizer: as a Personal Information Manager (PIM), the program administers everything a person needs in order to organise his private life in a mobile manner - appointments, addresses, tasks and messaging, such as eMail, SMS and Group-SMS. For the “personal assistant” to be accepted, the software needs to be user-friendly, first and foremost.
Over the past months, weblicon has undertaken great efforts with this first certification in Germany to improve the user-friendliness of the Personal Information Manager. The two independent usability research companies and publishers of the first Mobile Usability Report, Mobile Economy GmbH and eye square GmbH undertook the extensive testing: representatively selected users put the software to the test at the usability lab: user surface, administration of appointments via WAP cell phone, login-function, entering new appointments and addresses and sending out eMails by PC and cell phone. Subsequently, eye square prepared a documentation of the user problems that had emerged and submitted suggestions for improvements. Following that stage, the weblicon team optimised the software, the experts checked the software once more in a last step before awarding the “Usability 2001” certificate.
Carsten Brinkschulte commented, “the usability test meets its limits in the economy”. “The earlier during the development phase the usability test is applied, the greater the economic success.” Without these user-friendliness checks, the operating problems only occur in the finished product. It is for this reason that weblicon set up its own “Usability Engineering” department in the company over the past weeks. The technical novelties of the weblicon Personal Information Manager are now tested every month.
This is an approach Michael Schiessl, CEO of eye square, assesses as positive, “weblicon is definitely a pioneer in improving the user-friendliness of the own product with the help of experts. The users have the power and usually, they are able to locate existing usability problems very quickly. Our certification contributes decisively to the optimisation of usability and thus promotes the acceptance by the users and finally also the success in the market.”
The “Usability 2001” certificate is awarded within the scope of the mCommerce World in Frankfurt a.M. on 28th November in the Special Session “Usability”. The event starts at 02.00 pm.
Company brief:
weblicon technologies AG – founded in Berlin in June 2000 by today’s managing directors Carsten Brinkschulte and Peter Haas – develop and license web-based applications (Weblications) for portals, ISPs, ASPs and telcos. These personal-information-management products are integrated seamlessly into existing networks of servers, applications and databases. The participation of the venture capital shareholder PEPPERMINT.Financial Partners makes it possible for weblicon as the first technology supplier in Europe to synchronise the data “over the air”, based on the SyncML industrial standard. The Online Organizer is one of the most successful products and is being used, for instance, by E-Plus and the Dutch KPN Mobile.
For further information:
Weblicon Technologies AG
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Corporate Communication
Torstraße 6
D-10119 Berlin
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Nicole Meissner
+49-173-606 91 60
eMail: n.meissner@weblicon.net
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eye square GmbH
Michael Schiessl
+49 (030) 44 01 08 24
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Download press release:
e_weblicon_usability2001.doc
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