International Journal of u- and e- Service, Science and Technology Vol. 7, No. 6 (2014), pp. 13-20 http://dx.doi.org/10.14257/ijunesst.2014.7.6.02 ISSN: 2005-4246 IJUNESST Copyright ⓒ 2014 SERSC Analysis of the Usability of M-Commerce Applications Kire Jakimoski Assistant Professor, PhD, Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, FON University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia kire.jakimoski@fon.edu.mk Abstract In this paper significant studies will be reviewed about the usability issues, requirements and methods for Mobile E-Commerce. In the beginning we will support the research problem with a larger observation of the mobile applications usability, followed up by the different authors’ definitions. After that we will focus on the usability issues for M-Commerce applications, including the mobile usability issues, E-Commerce usability issues and Mobile Commerce usability issues. Then, relevant studies about the usability requirements and methods will be presented narrowing down the research problem. Finally, summary will be given for this paper creating a base for our conceptual framework. Keywords: mobile applications, m-commerce, e-commerce, mobile usability 1. Introduction Mobile devices already have turn out to be very trendy means in everyday activities of people whenever they are. Tendencies in the Communication and Information Technologies (CIT) and in the buying strategies point out that the users exploit their individual phones for work. Commerce with the mobility has developed into mainstream, so it is expected that there is going to be above 1.3 billion movable employees [1]. As a result of this, mobile applications have appeared as commercial IT proposals that are necessary to assist the managerial functions. Mobile applications caused a lot of advantages with its usability in different areas like tourism, logistics, transportation, disaster, management activities and project monitoring [2-8]. Hence, the mobile applications are assisting different type of users, business or technical, and are very usable and beneficial. Usability as a term is identified as the potential of some product to be comprehended, studied and desirable to users when exploited in order to accomplish specified aims with efficiency and effectiveness in particular environments [9]. There are a lot of guidelines and standards for usability in order the quality of the software outcomes to be guaranteed. But, although there are a lot of common regulations to lead the implementation of the desktop and web applications, usability standards and guidelines for mobile applications are yet in deficiency and quite undiscovered [10]. This subject is serious because the accessible guidelines for usability are not enough for designing efficient mobile interfaces for the applications as a result of the unusual characteristics and the dynamic context of the mobile applications [11]. Usability of the mobile applications has improved significantly in the past few years enabling the users to carry out more jobs in the mobile context. Progress that has been made in the field of the mobile technologies has caused developing an extensive variety of applications that could be utilized by the users which are very dynamic and movable. But, at times the developers of the mobile applications are neglecting the fact that Online Version Only. Book made by this file is ILLEGAL.