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Total Number of Subscribers:464 |
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Date:19th September 2008 |
Compiled by Mr. M. Sathya Kumar |
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Mobile Commerce Mobile Commerce (also known as M-Commerce, mCommerce or U-Commerce, owing to the
ubiquitous nature of its services) is the ability to conduct commerce, using a
mobile device e.g. a mobile phone ( or cell phone), a PDA, a smartphone while on the move, and other
emerging mobile equipment,like dashtop mobile devices. In an academic
definition (Tiwari and Buse, 2007, p. 33) it is characterized in the
following terms: "Mobile Commerce is any transaction, involving the transfer of
ownership or rights to use goods and services, which is initiated and/or
completed by using mobile access to computer-mediated networks with the help
of an electronic device." History In 2000 and 2001 hundreds of billions of dollars in licensing fees were
paid by European telecommunications companies for UMTS and other 3G licenses.
The high prices paid were due to the expectation of highly profitable mobile
commerce applications. These mobile commerce applications would be delivered
through broadband mobile telephony provided by 2.5G and 3G cellphone
services. PDAs and cellular phones have become so popular that many businesses are
beginning to use m-commerce as a more efficient method of reaching and
communicating with their customers. Although technological trends and
advances are concentrated in Asia and in Europe, Canada and the United States
are also beginning to experiment with early-stage m-commerce. With the forthcoming spectrum auction by the FCC, scheduled for early
2008, there will be major auction rule changes that will create more consumer
options while reducing control by telecom operators as "network
gatekeepers". The less price sensitive early adopters from the 13-25 age group could
drive the initial growth. Growth in mobile products such as ringtones, games,
and graphics may displace spending on many traditional youth products such as
music, clothing, and movies. This would radically change the dynamics of all visual entertainment and
product-service distribution world wide so marketers could target end-users
with diverse youth mind sets. The youth market has historically shown rapid
viral growth which later gains acceptance in the mass market. While emerging
markets are proving to be the ideal solution for sustaining revenues in the
face of falling ARPU average price per unit, analysts say the rapid
commercialization of 3G services is likely to open up new opportunities in
developed markets. In order to exploit the m-commerce market potential, handset
manufacturers such as Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, and Qualcomm are working
with carriers such as AT&T Wireless and Sprint to develop WAP-enabled
smart phones and ways to reach them. Using Bluetooth technology, smart phones
offer fax, e-mail, and phone capabilities. "Profitability for device vendors and carriers hinges on high-end
mobile devices and the accompanying killer applications," said Burchett.
Perennial early adopters, such as the youth market, which are the least price
sensitive, as well as more open to premium mobile content and applications,
must also be a key target for device vendors. Products and services
available Mobile ticketing Tickets can be sent to mobile phones using a variety of technologies .
Users are then able to use their tickets immediately by presenting their
phones at the venue. Tickets can be booked and cancelled on the mobile with the help of simple
application downloads or by accessing WAP portals of various Travel agents or
direct service providers. Mobile ticketing for airports, ballparks, and train stations, for
example, will not only streamline unexpected metropolitan traffic surges, but
also help users remotely secure parking spots (even while in their vehicles)
and greatly facilitate mass surveillance at transport hubs. Mobile vouchers, coupons and loyalty cards
Mobile ticketing technology can also be used for the distribution of
vouchers, coupons and loyalty cards. The voucher, coupon, or loyalty card is
represented by a virtual token that is sent to the mobile phone. Presenting a
mobile phone with one of these tokens at the point of sale allows the
customer to receive the same benefits as another customer who has a loyalty
card or other paper coupon/voucher. Mobile delivery enables:
Content purchase and delivery
Currently, mobile
content purchase and delivery mainly consists of the sale of ring-tones,
wallpapers, and games for mobile phones. The convergence of mobile phones,
mp3 players and video players into a single device will result in an increase
in the purchase and delivery of full-length music tracks and video. Download
speeds, if increased to 4G levels,will make it possible to buy a movie on a
mobile device in a couple of seconds, while on the go Location-based services
Unlike a home PC, the
location of the mobile phone user is an important piece of information used
during mobile commerce transactions. Knowing the location of the user allows
for location based services such as:
Information services
A wide variety of
information services can be delivered to mobile phone users in much the same
way as it is delivered to PCs. These services include:
Particularly, more
customized traffic information, based on users' travel patterns, will be
multicast on a differentiated basis, instead of broadcasting the same news
and data to all Users. This type of multicasting will be suited for more
bandwidth-intensive mobile equipment. Mobile banking
Banks and other
financial institutions are exploring the use of mobile commerce to allow
their customers to not only access account information, but also make
transactions, e.g. purchasing stocks, remitting money, via mobile phones and
other mobile equipment. This service is often referred to as Mobile Banking
or M-Banking. More negative issues like ID theft, phishing and pharming are
lurking when it comes to mobile banking, particularly done on the mobile web.
Net security technology free from redundancy and paradigm shifts away from
mobile web-based banking will be an optimal solution to mobile banking in the
near future. Mobile Banking in the world This part of the mobile
commerce is very popular in countries where most of their population is
unbanked. Countries like Sudan,
Ghana and south Africa received very well this new commerce. Mobile brokerage
Stock market services
offered via mobile devices have also become more popular and are known as
Mobile Brokerage. They allow the subscriber to react to market developments
in a timely fashion and irrespective of their physical location. Auctions
Over the past three
years mobile reverse auction solutions have grown in popularity. Unlike
traditional auctions, the reverse auction (or low-bid auction) bills the
consumer's phone each time they place a bid. Many mobile PSMS commerce
solutions rely on a one-time purchase or one-time subscription; however,
reverse auctions are high return applications as they allow the consumer to
transact over a long period of time. Mobile purchase
Mobile purchase allows
customers to shop online at any time in any location. Customers can browse
and order products while using a cheap, secure payment method. Instead of
using paper catalogues, retailers can send customers a list of products that
the customer would be interested in, directly to their mobile device or
consumers can visit a mobile version of a retailers ecommerce site. Additionally,
retailers will also be able to track customers at all times and notify them
of discounts at local stores that the customer would be interested in. Mobile marketing and advertising
Mobile marketing is an
emerging concept, but the speed with which it's growing its roots is
remarkable. Mobile marketing is highly responsive sort of marketing campaign,
especially from brands’ experience point of view. And almost all
brands are getting higher campaign response rates . Corporations are now
using m-commerce to expand everything from services to marketing and
advertisement. Although there are currently very few regulations on the use
and abuses of mobile commerce, this will change in the next few years. With
the increased use of m-commerce comes increased security. Cell phone
companies are now spending more money to protect their customers and their
information from online intrusions and hackers. Mobile Commerce's Influence on Youth Markets The hierarchy of mobile
media is changing very rapidly and mobile WiMax or other technologies may
increase the impact of, for example, location-based mobile eCommerce. As of
2007 many companies have been trying to penetrate this market. Early pioneers
in this new Mobile advertising are companies such as Vodaphone, Orange France
Telekom, SK Telekom and several others. Two memetic researchers
and early pioneers of mobile advertising are Leveious Rolando and John Sokol
with their early experimentation of DVB-H. In 2007 on a trip to South Korea
Leveious created a Venn-diagram model of rapid youth life style/trends. The
diagram made explained the vital aspects of mobile adoption and sales of
mobile global products/services in the mobile space. They performed and
experiment in which the use of viral mobile marketing within the context in
the form of mobile commercials or mobisodes were created to attract an
audience and retention. The two tested a theory of rapid memetic
dissemination. By observing the youth cultural styles and trends combined
with the rate at which they passed on particular information given to the
test subjects. Group A subjects were
given words and phrases and meeting points to be used regularly in
conversation. The other group the control group produced a random sampling
that provided a measure of the rate at which ideas and phrases were
transmitted. Other experiments he
conducted would take place in Europe-South Korea and Japan involving viral
straight to the end-user mobile integrated campaigns for the delivery of
products and coupons with instant savings from Mobile hand-held devices. This
was commissioned by top Mobile providers like Deutch Telekom (German T
mobile) and Orange with music artists -Djs and Mobile youth street teams that
not only drove instant purchases of event tickets sales but also drove the
sales of purchase of three different viable youth products to over 200,00
thousand end-users in 8 days. This test showed how
the Global youth mobile market can react autonomously and create trends. It
also showed how products-applications take on new life because of youth
mindsets who are the early adopters of any form of social engaging technology
services. Leveious Rolando along with Gibran Burchett researched fashionable
products in order to engage the end-consumer the m-commerce market potential,
handset manufacturers such as Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, and Qualcomm are
working with carriers such as AT&T Wireless and Sprint to develop
WAP-enabled smart phones, the industry's answer to the Swiss Army Knife, and
ways to reach them. Other notable places
where mobile devices are being used to conduct mobile commerce heavily is
South Korea. Through using Bluetooth technology, smart phones offer fax,
e-mail, and phone capabilities mobile companies in South Korea believed that
mobile technology would become synonymous with youth life style. This was based on
generations of South Koreans driving content back and forth world wide
including music to drive the mobile market. "Profitability for device
vendors and carriers hinges on high-end mobile devices and the accompanying
killer applications," said Burchett. "Perennial early adopters,
such as the youth market, which are the least price sensitive, as well as
more open to premium mobile content and applications, must also be a key
target for device vendors this was discuss by both Leveious Rolando and
Gibran Burchett at a Mobile Commerce meeting in Japan August 2007. The early worked was
transformed through dissemination they are along with few others have
developed methodology to be deployed global through concerts and events and
any form of youth related culture from South Korea to Japan to Europe,America
in 2008 with world leading mobile software provider and world leading mobile
prodvider. companies such as European giant www.orange.com and www.overcell.com
and world leading personal mobile software provider www.vidiator.com and
other companies in South Korea, Japan and Britain, Germany lead this
evolutions of Mobile advertising. Payment methods The main payment
methods used to enable mobile commerce are:
Related technologies
Source : The Mobile technology website. |
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