Name : Malvin Lo
Group : Diploma in Commerce 2012 January
Student ID : 12DJ103

Introduction
The interview was held at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa and also at Lucky Bean Lintas, with the time set at 18:00 for some of the interviewees and 20:30 for one working interviewee so that it is convenient for him as he is working in the daytime. The interviewees were Josephine Tang, Matthew Chen, Michael Lee. Josephine Tang is my childhood friend whom has agreed to be one of my interviewees. Matthew Chen is my cousin from my mother’s side while Michael Lee is my mother’s co-worker.

In-Depth Interview
Question 1
Have you ever heard about the “IBON” machine?
After asking all three interviewees on the first question, two out of three of them, Josephine and Matthew both have heard of the “IBON” machine before and out of the two, Josephine had even used it during her vacation to Taiwan and she excitedly responded on how brilliant the “IBON” machine was. Michael responded that he have never heard anything about the “IBON” machine prior to conducting this interview with him.

Question 2 (Word Association)
What comes to your mind that is related to “IBON” machine, when the following words show?
“Holiday”, “Overseas”, “Convenient”
Upon asking the second question, only one of the interviewee, Josephine was able to relate “IBON” along with “Holiday”, “Overseas”, and “Convenient” as she used the “IBON” machine to create a card by transferring a certain amount of cash into the “IBON” and in returns the “IBON” reloads the card with that amount of cash that was transferred. Josephine also stated that this was very convenient for overseas travelling as you don’t have to bring too much cash on your body so it is less risky being robbed. The other interviewees, Matthew and Michael were unable to relate anything to the “IBON” machine as they have yet to personally experience the machine itself.

Question 3
Do you think “IBON” machine is convenient to your life?

Based on the feedback I have gathered from all three interviewees, all of them have stated that the “IBON” machine will definitely be helpful and useful in their life such as cash withdrawal service, printing airplane ticket service, stated by third interviewee Michael, and it certain last minute situations such as purchasing concert tickets to a show as replied by first interviewee Josephine. Second interviewee, Matthew responded that even though he has yet to experience the usage of “IBON”, but upon hearing my explanation and briefing of the machine to him, he is positive that it will provide a number of useful services that he could use in the future if he gets the chance to use it.

Question 4
If “IBON” comes out with online shopping, ticket booking, printing, payment and mobile phone reload services, which do you you prefer more? Why?

Based on the feedback given, all three interviewees gave different preferences for services which the “IBON” machine could provide. First interviewee, Josephine stated that she prefers the payment and mobile phone services because she is a phone addict and that her phone usually runs out of credit when she is on vacation at a foreign country therefore a mobile phone reload service would help her out a lot. She also finds the other services of “IBON” too be quite useful to her but if she was to be given the choice of choosing one service, she said that she would definitely choose the payment and mobile phone reload service. Second interviewee Matthew chose the online shopping service as given the fact that the opportunity to shop online to purchase items was an eye catcher for Matthew. Lastly, third interviewee finds that ticket booking is an important aspect of his life, therefore he would love to have a nearby machine that would help him print tickets whether it be airplane tickets or concert tickets.

Question 5
If these services is chargeable, will you used it?

From this question that was presented to the interviewees, Josephine said that she will use depending on how much they charge for their service. If it is a lot, then she would opt not to use it, however if it is still within her budget, she would be happy to continue using it. The same goes to second interviewee Matthew. Third interviewee Michael stated that he will continue using the services as he understand and knows very well that technologically advanced things don’t come as free.

Question 6
If “IBON” comes out with others promotions, which kind of promotion will you prefer more?
When asking the interviewees on this question, Josephine says that she has no promotion in mind but she will be keen to know what promotions “IBON” chooses to come out with in the future so she will be keeping an eye on “IBON”. Second interviewee Matthew also have no promotions that he prefers, however he would like to see some promotions on shopping and limited collectable items. Third interviewee Michael replied with airplane ticket discount offers, although he strongly feels that this promotion should only be valid to existing members of “IBON” partnering company or long term members of “IBON”. He strongly believes that this would attract a number of the public’s attention as who wouldn’t love a discounted offer.

Question 7 (Construction technique)
What do you think about the pictures below?

Based on the picture above which was given and shown to all three interviewees, all three Josephine, Matthew and Michael gave a unanimous reply that the women on the right hand side of the picture was struggling, frustrated and having a hard time making up her mind because she did not know what to do with the variety if services that “IBON” had to offer. First interviewee, Josephine even added that perhaps the women did not know how to read Mandarin, hence it was driving her nuts considering that the “IBON” machine uses Mandarin as their core language. Third interviewee, Michael added on by replying that the women was an inexperienced user of “IBON” because she might not have the knowledge on how to properly use the machine.

Question 8 (Expressive Techniques)
Please imagine the situation below, what’s your opinion?
Josephine : Last Saturday, my uncle had waited for a taxi around 20 minutes, he got so pissed off and asked my aunty to come and fetch him at wherever he is at that time Matthew : Last Saturday, my uncle had waited for a taxi around 20 minutes, but since he is in a rush of time, he patiently waited for a taxi to arrive.
Michael : Last Saturday, my uncle had waited for a taxi around 20 minutes, but he couldn’t waited any longer so he decided to call up a taxi instead to come over to his location.

Question 9 (completion techniques)

For the final question in the interview, all three interviewees gave back different feedbacks and opinions. For Josephine, she replied that bringing too much money for overseas travelling is quite dangerous as you might get robbed in dark alleys or when you are working alone in quiet areas at night. Besides that, she added on saying some hotels are not even safe. Robbers break into hotel rooms and steak whatever valuable items they can gather. For Matthew, he responded by saying bringing too much money for overseas travelling is necessary in case your credit card gets void in certain unlucky situations or if you are having difficulties accessing your bank account incase you wanted to withdraw cash for use. Lastly, Michael states that bring too much money for overseas travelling is always a necessity but you must guard it with full responsibility as the amount of money at stake is huge. Losing it would be a terrible thing to happen he added on.

Observation During the process of the interview, I have managed to note downs several observation that I have saw taken place. One of them is that most of the interviewees are quite supportive of the “IBON” machine concept even though one of them is not very familiar with it as they all have the same mind set, which is convenience. Apart from that, it is also noticed that the amount of feedback or opinion I managed to gather from all the interviewees is just in an adequate amount. This being due to two of our interviewees had some knowledge about the “IBON” machine and one of them has actually used it before on her vacation trips and she finds it exciting to use. Other than that, there is also some barrier between one of the interviewee and me when I was conducting the interview as he was quite confused after hearing the explanation and briefing of the “IBON” machine, therefore I had to explained it a second time to him. But luckily he was able to understand a whole lot better after that and the interview continues on.

Limitation There are several limitations to our product that can be stated. One of the limitations is that the “IBON” machine technology is currently using Mandarin as their core language to operate, therefore it would hinder or turn off people with poor Mandarin efficiency to use the machine. This is due to the “IBON” machine technology being developed in Taiwan, which is a pro Mandarin country, therefore the much more universal English language is not preferred as their core language. Next, as the “IBON” machine uses a high technology software in order to execute much of its services wirelessly. Therefore it might prove to be an annoyance for people who are weakly educated in the technology field or era to use as they simply don’t know how to operate the “IBON” machine effectively. This might be related due to the fact that older generations such as our parent’s generations and above were born in an era where technology has not yet been fully developed.

Recommendation Some of our interviewees gave us a couple of recommendations that can be infused into the “IBON” machine so that it improves the overall usage experience. The most crucial improvement that is needed so that the “IBON” machine can be used by people in other countries that are not pro Mandarin is the incorporating of multi-languages into the machine itself so that people can choose for themselves what language they would want to use when operating the machine. Apart from that, talks and lessons should be executed to instruct people whom are weak in the technology era so that they know the proper usage of the “IBON” machine. This being said, as “IBON” has not been introduced in Malaysia before, it is mandatory and important to execute promotions, mas advertising around the country and even the hiring of local artist to further help promote the “IBON” machine, as stated by one of the interviewees. Moving on, as the “IBON” machine uses a wireless network to conduct transactions such as the purchasing of airplane tickets and concert tickets, it is crucial for the developers of “IBON” to install a top notch security system and firewall to prevent internet hackers and bots from hacking customer’s private information such as credit card numbers. By doing so, customers will feel a sense of relief knowing that they are able to rely and entrust on “IBON” machine’s high security with their private information.

Conclusion I find that “IBON” would proved to be a successful concept if it were to be launched in Malaysia. This is due to the great reception it received from the public when it was first launched in Taiwan. The number of great services that it provided was a huge bonus for the public as the developers of “IBON” knew what their target is and what are they aiming for in order to meet the public’s demand and high expectations. As the number of countries in the world is becoming more technologically advanced, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the “IBON” technology being launched in other countries.