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Abstract

Presence based services on mobile phones are considered to be a highly potential market by both developers and carriers. These expectations are based on the success of stationary Instant Messaging (IM), and the upcoming of new powerful mobile phones. All main IM-suppliers today have mobile versions of their applications, but these existing applications are small versions of successful stationary ones and are designed in relation to how people relate to their stationary computer. They do not support the way people live and the priorities they have when they are mobile. Research has showed that it is not enough to transfer stationary solutions to mobile gadgets; the design should be based on people’s mobile behaviour. The aim of this work is to find out how the sense of presence can arise from the use of the mobile phone and look into what actions the users might take when this occurs.To be able to explore mobile presence we developed iSpy, a mobile phone application that transmits information about users, between users, through GPRS. A list of users, their whereabouts and how they, at that same moment, use their phones are presented in the display. For two weeks, a group of six users used iSpy in their everyday lives. On the basis of observed activity, logs and complementing interviews, we found that simple information can make the users attain a high sense of presence. This sense made the participants in the study feel part of others life and it increased the fellowship in the group. We also found that when you get an insight into the others’ everyday lives, both coordination and adjusted communication are triggered, supported and avoided. Our results show the need for further investigation to make the development of future presence based services successful. We believe that these services will rely on location since changing environment is one of the main characteristics of the mobile behaviour. However, continuously presented information about people’s position increases the need for controlled privacy. One huge challenge is designing solutions that enable a user to make changes concerning who is allowed to see what without too much effort and inconvenience.