Consumer-based Application Customization for Mobile Phones

There is an interest among users for customization of mobile phones, as is indicated by several companies and websites which offer themes, ringtones, backgrounds and games. However, unless the users possess programming experience, this customization rarely goes beyond simple look-and-feel and into the actual functionality. In the other end of this spectrum, lies End User Development (EUD), where end users with programming expertise make modifications to programs themselves. In their work of designing a system for Sony Ericsson – meant to enable end users without programming knowledge to customize applications and functionality for mobile phones – the authors identified this gap between users and developers – the EUD gap. The authors believed this was the cause of frustration among some users, who perhaps did not have the motivation to learn how to program, but nonetheless wished for more control of applications and functionality in their cell phones. With the main purpose of designing a system meant to support users in such a task, this thesis has also looked at how such a solution could function in a larger, EUD-related perspective. Apart from presenting a final design proposition, the authors find indications for that there is, indeed, an interest among users to customize the functionality of mobile phones. Findings, possible implications, and recommendations based on the authors' own experience of developing the system, are finally presented, both out of an academic and a commercial perspective