Analysis of interviews shows that when companies talk about PEOU they refer to “my grandma” (BEX) and “some sort of intelligence” (Yogiway) the researcher does not believe these quotes pertain to age or intelligence but to digital literacy and perhaps an area of discussion considering the general trend of an aging population in developed countries. FOREX, on the other hand, mentions the benefit for digital literate individuals in “easy deposits and withdrawals”, and Peter Liska, owner of Yogiway links the PEOU with PU “Bitcoin is very useful for everybody because it’s easy to accept money” and make transactions.
Regardless of the increase in digital literacy the majority of the companies researched reflected the statement “Bitcoin is not easy to use” (Monetas). The majority of interviewees did not “know if the average computer user” would agree with the level of PEOU, “a lot of people are intimidated by Bitcoin technology because it sounds complicated to them” (Crypto-Finance). Radoslav Albrecht, managing director at Bitbond calls it “abstract” and many other companies mention that time is needed to adopt Bitcoin. These sentiments and “ease of use is not a determining factor for me” (Crypto-Finance) does not fit the position of PEOU in the TAM. Yet this does correspond to value proposition of businesses who capitalise on delivering scarce resources/difficult to use capabilities to their customers The validity of whether this is of value to the final customer can be tested when compared with the actual customer results (see 7.4)
It is interesting to note that the anticipated low levels of customer PEOU and how they deal with PEOU for the customers they are serving. Salo & Karjaluoto’s (2007) model includes training as augmentation to PEOU and PU but conversely Chris Odom CTO of Monetas states “The solution ultimately is not training, but improvements in the tools surrounding the technology.” He continues “training on Bitcoin will not increase adoption nearly as much as new tools”. Focus on making Bitcoin easier to use for its customers is whether by creation of applications or training are also mentioned by FOREX, BEX, Shire Silver, Yogiway, Bitbond, Crypto-Finance and Richard Kohl, executive of Pikapay.
All in all, companies do not think that Bitcoin is easy to use stating the customers may encounter “losing the wallet or if the phone gets stolen”, “making backups” (Pikapay), “too geeky” (Shire Silver) are current issues. Pikapay, Shire Silver also acknowledge the necessity of downloads as hindrance to the proliferation of Bitcoin. In this discussion we can see a difference between service providers, who intend to educate and create tools for the end-user; and goods merchants who offer to exchange products through the cheaper transactions of Bitcoin. Thus service providers are more geared towards increasing PEOU through their applications; goods merchants are concerned about increasing PU through speed, ease and low cost of transactions for the customer.
Conversely and finally, Crypto-Finance identifies that “the TAM model is only half the equation”, states “there are more dimensions to adoption of a currency”. By referring back to the large conceptual model by Salo & Karjaluoto (2007) further research can be performed into the many branches affecting trust.
Next section: https://jl00282.wordpress.com/dissertation-part-2/companies-perspective/qualitative-findings-analysis-disscussion/summary/
The New Exchange 