Mobile social phonebooks Mobile phone user perceptions and practical implications for mobile operators

Abstract

We introduce a term called mobile social phonebook, which refers to the integration of traditional mobile phone contacts with contacts from mobile Internet communication services that is happening in the mobile device's phonebook. First, mobile phone user perceptions towards mobile social phonebooks are studied by means of semi-structured interviews. The results of the interviews are combined with related work and discussed from a mobile operator perspective. We claim that mobile social phonebooks will have an effect on the interrelationships of mobile communication services and discuss implications related to providers, privacy and future of mobile social phonebooks. Moreover, we claim that the future analysis on interrelationships needs to happen on a more detailed level, than what has been achieved so far. This paper contributes to the research fields of mobile platforms and mobile communication services and is valuable both for practitioners and academics.