How shall we define "mobile commerce"? Simple definitions of the term are emerging in the industry, but most tend to serve the commercial interests of those who coin them. Thus for some mobile commerce is purely concerned with shifting existing online shopping services onto cell phones, while others focus on the creation of entirely new forms of consumer services for mobile users, such as location-based information services. We take a fairly strict view of "mobile" and a wide view of "commerce". "Wireless" is often inaccurately used as a synonym for "mobile". Wireless technology certainly provides the technical basis of mobile commerce, but wireless does not always make for mobility. Wireless connectivity is, for example, a viable option for replacing domestic phone lines with broadband capability, but such solutions are not designated for use on the move. M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as cellular telephone and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Known as next-generation e-commerce, m-commerce enables users to access the Internet without needing to find a place to plug in. The emerging technology behind m-commerce, which is based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), has made far greater strides in Europe, where mobile devices equipped with Web-ready micro-browsers are much more common than in the United States.
[...] But first we may ask, if mobile commerce banking is here and here to stay, what can it tell us about the design, launch and effects of other mobile commerce services? Taking these attributes in order, we can immediately see that banking services for the mobile channel are designed for ease of use above all other considerations. The basic WAP user interface is ideally suited to displaying balances, accepting funds transfer instructions, and producing instatements. At the same time, mobile commerce banking applications leverage the knowledge of systems developer and bank customer groups alike. [...]
[...] Part of this stunt in expected growth can be attributed to the lack of consumer incentive to conduct commerce over mobile devices. Compared to using a PC or physically going to a store, M-Commerce has not yet provided enough ease and convenience to persuade consumers to prefer it. The limited growth can also be attributed to the fact that, in general, technology advancements happen rather quickly compared to the time it takes for consumers to adjust to and adopt them. [...]
[...] Shopping: The Evolution of One-Like-That Shopping is the first thing that comes to mind when we think about commerce, but we have chosen to cove it last in this survey of mobile commerce services aimed at consumers. This is because consumer retail is, perhaps surprisingly, the most radical aspect of mobile commerce from the point of view of its effect on current practice. Shopping in the mobile channel has great potential to disrupt existing retail models, threatening the recently established orthodoxies of online selling as much as those of entrenched physical retailers. [...]
[...] The industries affected by m-commerce include: Financial services, which includes mobile banking (when customers use their handheld devices to access their accounts and pay their bills) as well as brokerage services, in which stock quotes can be displayed and trading conducted from the same handheld device Telecommunications, in which service changes, bill payment and account reviews can all be conducted from the same handheld device Service/retail, as consumers are given the ability to place and pay for orders on-the-fly Information services, which include the delivery of financial news, sports figures and traffic updates to a single mobile device Evolution of Mobile Commerce At the dawn of the new millennium, some 5 billion people inhabited the earth. [...]
[...] Technologies Here we question the fact that what the enabling technologies of mobile commerce are. The emphasis is on providing a coherent overview of the mobile commerce technology landscape and on suggesting where the service developer can best exercise choice. The mobile commerce technology landscape is a good deal less stable, uniform, and predictable than Web development territory. Though WAP was hailed as an Internet-equivalent development and delivery environment, doubts persist as to whether WAP (in its present form) will survive as mainstream technology on the phone platform or acquire a significant role on the nonphone platform. [...]
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