MOBILE COMMERCE

Mobile Commerce

• Mobile computing is transforming the way organizations conduct business by allowing businesses and individuals to engage in mobile commerce.
• Mobile commerce (or m-commerce) refers to electronic commerce (EC) transactions that are conducted in a wireless environment, especially via the Internet.

• Like regular EC applications, m-commerce can be transacted via the Internet, private communication lines, smart cards, and other infrastructures.
• M-commerce creates opportunities for businesses to deliver new services to existing customers and to attract new customers.
• To see how m-commerce applications are classified by industry, see www.wirelessresearch.eu.

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• The development of m-commerce is driven by the following factors:
• • Widespread availability of mobile devices. By mid-2013, some 6 billion cell phones were in use throughout the world. Cell phones are spreading more quickly in the developing world than the developed world.
• Experts estimate that within a few years about 70 percent of cell phones in developed countries will have Internet access.

• Mobile Internet access in developing countries will increase rapidly as well.
• Thus, a mass market has developed for mobile computing and m-commerce.
• • Declining prices. The price of wireless devices is declining and will continue to decline.
• • Bandwidth improvement. To properly conduct m-commerce, you need sufficient bandwidth for transmitting text, voice, video, and multimedia. Wi-Fi, 4G cellular technology, and WiMAX all provide the necessary bandwidth.

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• Mobile computing and m-commerce include many applications, which result from the capabilities of various technologies.
• You will examine these applications and their impact on business activities in the next section.

Mobile Commerce Applications

• Mobile commerce applications are many and varied.
• The most popular applications include location-based applications, financial services, intra business applications, accessing information, and telemetry.
• The rest of this section examines these various applications and their effects on the ways people live and do business.

Location-Based Applications and Services

• M-commerce B2C applications include location-based services and location-based applications.
• Location-based mobile commerce is called location-based commerce (or L-commerce).
• Location-based services provide information that is specific to a given location.
• For example, a mobile user can (1) request the nearest business or service, such as an ATM or a restaurant;
• (2) receive alerts, such as a warning of a traffic jam or an accident; and (3) find a friend.

• Wireless carriers can provide location-based services such as locating taxis, service personnel, doctors, and rental equipment; scheduling fl eets;
• tracking objects such as packages and train boxcars;
• finding information such as navigation, weather, traffic, and room schedules; targeting advertising; and automating airport check-ins.

• Consider, for example, how location-based advertising can make the marketing process more productive.
• Marketers can use this technology to integrate the current locations and preferences of mobile users.
• They can then send user-specific advertising messages concerning nearby shops, malls, and restaurants to consumers’ wireless devices.

Financial Services

• Mobile financial applications include banking, wireless payments and micropayments, money transfers, wireless wallets, and bill-payment services.
• The bottom line for mobile financial applications is to make it more convenient for customers to transact business regardless of where they are or what time it is.
• Harried customers are demanding such convenience.

• Web shoppers historically have preferred to pay with credit cards.
• Because credit card companies sometimes charge fees on transactions, however, credit cards are an inefficient way to make very small purchases.
• The growth of relatively inexpensive digital content, such as music (e.g., iTunes), ring tones, and downloadable games, is driving the growth of micropayments, as merchants seek to avoid paying credit card fees on small transactions.

• Ultimately, however, the success of micropayment applications will depend on the costs of the transactions.
• Transaction costs will be small only when the volume of transactions is large.
• One technology that can increase the volume of transactions is wireless mobile wallets. Various companies offer mobile wallet (m-wallet) technologies that enable cardholders to make purchases with a single click from their mobile devices.

• In China, SmartPay allows people to use their mobile phones to pay their phone bills and utility bills, buy lottery tickets and airline tickets, and make other purchases.
• SmartPay launched 172.com (see www.172.com), a portal that centralizes the company’s mobile, telephone, and Internet-based payment services for consumers.
• It designed the portal to provide a convenient, centralized source of information for all of these transactions.

Intra business Applications

• Although business-to-consumer (B2C) m-commerce gets considerable publicity, most of today’s m-commerce applications actually are used within organizations.
• In this section, you will see how companies use mobile computing to support their employees.
• Mobile devices increasingly are becoming an integral part of workflow applications.
• For example, companies can use nonvoice mobile services to assist in dispatch functions—that is, to assign jobs to mobile employees, along with detailed information about the job.

• Target areas for mobile delivery and dispatch services include transportation (delivery of food, oil, newspapers, cargo; courier services; tow trucks; taxis), utilities (gas, electricity, phone, water);
• field service (computers, office equipment, home repair); healthcare (visiting nurses, doctors, social services); and security (patrols, alarm installation).

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Accessing Information

• Another vital function of mobile technology is to help users obtain and utilize information.
• Two types of technologies—mobile portals and voice portals—are designed to aggregate and deliver content in a form that will work within the limited space available on mobile devices.
• These portals provide information to users anywhere and at any time.

• A mobile portal aggregates and provides content and services for mobile users.
• These services include news, sports, and e-mail; entertainment, travel, and restaurant information; community services; and stock trading.
• The world’s best-known mobile portal—i-mode from NTT DoCoMo (www.nttdocomo.com)—has more than 40 million subscribers, primarily in Japan.
• Major players in Europe are Vodafone, O2, and T-Mobile.
• Some traditional portals—for example, Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN—have mobile portals as well.

Mobile Portal

• A mobile portal aggregates and provides content and services for mobile users.
• These services include news, sports, and e-mail; entertainment, travel, and restaurant information; communityes; and stock trading. The world’s best-known mobile portal—i-mode from NTT DoCoMo (www.nttdocomo.com)—has more than 40 million subscribers, primarily in Japan.
• Major players in Europe are Vodafone, O2, and T-Mobile.
• Some traditional portals—for example, Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN—have mobile portals as well.

• A voice portal is a Web site with an audio interface. Voice portals are not Web sites in the normal sense because they can also be accessed through a standard phone or a cell phone.
• A certain phone number connects you to a Web site, where you can request information verbally.
• The system finds the information, translates it into a computer-generated voice reply, and tells you what you want to know.
• Most airlines utilize voice portals to provide real-time information on flight status.

• Another example of a voice portal is the voice-activated 511 travel-information line developed by Tellme.com.
• This technology enables callers to inquire about weather, local restaurants, current traffic, and other valuable information.
• In addition to retrieving information, some sites provide true interaction. For example, iPing (www.iping.com) is a reminder and notification service that allows users to enter information via the Web and receive reminder calls.
• This service can even call a group of people to notify them of a meeting or conference call.

Telemetry Applications

• Telemetry is the wireless transmission and receipt of data gathered from remote sensors.
• Telemetry has numerous mobile computing applications.
• For example, technicians can use telemetry to identify maintenance problems in equipment.
• As another example, doctors can monitor patients and control medical equipment from a distance.

• Car manufacturers use telemetry applications for remote vehicle diagnosis and preventive maintenance.
• For instance, drivers of many General Motors cars use its OnStar system (www.onstar.com) in numerous ways.

• An interesting telemetry application for individuals is an iPhone app called Find My iPhone.
• Find My iPhone is a part of the Apple iCloud (www.apple.com/icloud).
• This app provides several very helpful telemetry functions.

• If you lose your iPhone, for example, it offers two ways to see its approximate location on a map.
• First, you can sign into the Apple iCloud from any computer.
• Second, you can use the Find My iPhone app on another iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

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• If you remember where you left your iPhone, you can write a message and display it on your iPhone’s screen.
• The message might say, “Left my iPhone. Please call me at 301-555-1211.”
• Your message appears on your iPhone, even if the screen is locked.
• And, if the map indicates that your iPhone is nearby—perhaps in your office under a pile of papers—you can tell Find My iPhone to play a sound that overrides the volume or silent setting.

• If you left your iPhone in a public place, you may want to protect its contents.
• You can remotely set a four-digit passcode lock to prevent people from using your iPhone, accessing your personal information, or tampering with your settings.
• Going further, you can initiate a remote wipe (erase all contents) to restore your iPhone to its factory settings. If you eventually find your phone, then you can connect it to your computer and use iTunes to restore the data from your most recent backup.

• If you have lost your iPhone and you do not have access to a computer, you can download the Find My iPhone app to a friend’s iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and then sign in to access all the Find My iPhone features.