Along with the emergence of mobile technology, the question arises whether the interplay between task and technology has remained the same or has changed. Finding places or
people, for example, has always been a challenging task. With
the advent of mobile technology, technology is able to expedite
this task by using a new data component: location information.
Navigational services are available that use location information to simplify our lives while traversing familiar as well as
unfamiliar roads; mobile applications thatfind the nearest gas
station, garage, or restaurant, are gaining increasing popularity
[48]; and applications, such as“friendfinder”[12,16]or“Boost”
[37], notify cellular phone users if friends are in their geographical vicinity. How well does the technologyfit the tasks in
mobile environments? Studying these situations from a revised
task-technologyfit angle is necessary.“The old computing was
about what computers could do; the new computing is about
what users can do. Successful technologies are those that are in
harmony with users' needs. They must support relationships
and activities that enrich the users' experiences”[[39],p.2].
We pursue multiple objectives. First, we reflect upon
technological developments in information systems, particularly those that use location information as their central
component for providing services. These services, also called