M-Commerce: A Study
M-Commerce: A Study
B. Ravi Kumar, B.V.S.S. Subba Rao and K.N. Budha Prasad
Sir CR Reddy College of Engineering, Eluru, Andhra Pradesh
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E-Mail: bvsss_rao@yahoo.co.in
INTRODUCTION
H omo sapiens, our scientific name, indicate that human
beings are thinkers. As Scientists point out that
Humans from the very beginning were thinkers and makers
at the same time and the making of the chipped stone, the
crude tool of our earliest ancestors, represents the
beginning of technology. Not surprisingly, the march of
civilization has been measured by the technological
advances— from the Stone Age to Steel Age, from the
muscle power of animals to rocket and nuclear power and
from hand tools to mass production lines, computer
controlled factories and the use of robots in surgery. And
the pace of progress of technology has been breathtaking.
The twenty, first century, by all indications, would be a
different world. Communication has been developed so
well that the world is shrinking to a global village. Global
position system will aid navigation for all vehicles from
automobile to rockets. The new technologies may even
repair the age-old destruction of natural vegetation by
bringing bio-diversity to forms.
Only a few years ago, electronic commerce visionaries
were predicting the rapid acceptance of mobile business as
the natural result of the e-commerce. Traditional brick and
mortar consumer retail companies that developed e-
business initiatives in the last few years as a way to attract
their consumers now must prepare for a possible paradigm
shift.
WHAT IS M -COMMERCE
A mobile commerce is the one that involves exchanging
Internet contents with a network of mobile people via
wireless device.
The need for mobile strategy: M-Business strategy can
help the enterprise increase its business agility by applying
the right M -Business application and processes to the right
M -Business applications and processes to the right areas of
need and opportunities across all user systems.
The following are the critical factors while deciding on a
mobile enterprise strategy:
• Readiness of back-end systems
• Evaluation of devices and their standardization
• Network diversity
• Security issues.
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READINESS
Wireless applications are primarily meant for providing
accurate and timely information. An enterprise must
evaluate how ready they are to provide the said timely
information.
Evaluation of Devices and their
Standardization
The issue of standardization on specific wireless devices
often arises when companies opt for wireless technology.
Most prevalent wireless protocols area
CDMA—Code Division Multiple Access – 2G
W-CDMA—Wide Band CDMA
GSM – 2G—Global System for Mobile Communication
GPRS—General Packet Radio Services – 2.5G
Networks—3G & 4G Networks
3G systems provide faster communication devices
including voice, fax and internet anytime and anywhere
with seamless global roaming. W-CDMA and CDMA 2000
are two major standards for 3G. In this CDMA, the
information-bearing signal is multiplied with another at a
faster rate, wider bandwidth digital signal that may carry a
unique orthogonal code. W-CDMA uses dedicated Time
Division Multiplexing (TDM) where by channel estimation
information is collected from another signal stream. CDMA
2000 uses Common Code Division Multiplexing (CDMA).
Access technologies are FDMA, TDMA & CDMD. 4G
mobile services are the advanced version of 3G mobile
communication services. The 4G mobile communication
services are expected to provide broadband, large capacity,
high speed data transmission, providing users with highly
quality color video images, 3D graphic animation games,
audio services, in 5.1 channels.
Organizations are taking efforts to provide real-time
enterprise information to their mobile employees. Several
mobile applications have merged which allows full time
connectivity to the mobile work force.
Network Diversity: Support multiple carriers and multiple
networks.
Security Issues: WAP security infrastructure provides a
good foundation for M-Business security with a protected
point to point link between the handheld and WAP
gatew ay.
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TECHNOLOGY FACTORS
Mobile Platform Selection Criteria
To successfully enterprise application, mobile platforms
must support a number of standards to allow enterprises to
leverage existing technologies for the users.
• Transactional Interface with Back-end data: Mobile
platforms should connect directly to back -end data
sources and use open standards to support transactional
application.
• Compatibility with Mobile standards: Mobile platform
should simultaneously support the wireless networks
like CDMA, TDMA, GSM and IDEN.
• Wireless Device Support: Mobile platforms should
support the digital devices including pagers, SMS, Web-
enabled phones, Pocket PCs and other PDAs and any
other future devices.
• Seamless Integration of Data and Audio: Mobile
platform should support enterprise applications that are
best suited to multiple media formats. The platform
should be able to blend voice and data through support
for the audio channel enabling subscribers to move
normally form data to voice to data within a single
application.
Wireless and Mobile Middleware for Mobile
Commerce
Mobile middleware can be defined as an enabling layer of
software that is used by application developers to connect
their M-Commerce applications with different networks
and operating systems. In mobile commerce environment,
middleware becomes very important due to the potential
values of many M -Commerce transactions, limited
capabilities of devices and diverse set of requirements
presented by various M -Commerce applications.
WAP is designed for interoperability of different
wireless networks, devices and applications using a
common set of applications and protocols. Using WAP
architecture, wireless middle can be deployed as a client on
a mobile terminal and as a server on the gateway. WAP
uses a micro browser as the client software and supports
text, graphics and standard Web content. WAP 2.0 is the
latest that adds the support for “Push” operation, allowing
information to be sent without an explicit request to users.
It also supports a variety of user interfaces and standard
Internet protocols such as TCP/IP and HTTP.
POPULAR APPLICATIONS OF M-COMMERCE
Mobile Office
Corporate e-mail systems have become the foremost
connection system in the enterprise. Wireless access
Mobile and Pervasive Computing (CoMPC–2008)
to mobile office solutions such as wireless enabling
Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino include real time
access to e-mail, calendars, contact information and
attachments.
Enterprise Applications
Many companies use wireless initiatives by enabling
revenue generating field sales and field personnel. Wireless
extension of back-end data leverage investments in
enterprise applications such as Sales Force Automation
(SFA) software provide customer history, product
specification, pricing and availability, terms and conditions
and enterprise information.
Customer Relationship Management
Systems help the managers interactions with customers by
improving sales, marketing and customer support
processes. Companies are now realizing that customer
service is a key differentiator to reduce customer agony and
increase customer loyalty.
Supply Chain Management
SCM has evolved through the application of E-Business
technologies into a powerful strategic function.
Establishing wired business process across multiple
organization is a challenging task, which involves several
inefficacies including incompatible technologies, operating
systems, protocols, etc.
The mobile capabilities of mobile SCM extension
provide a convenient, time saving, and highly accurate
means of capturing data on movements of goods and other
events. They simplify checking and monitoring tasks and
provide up-t o-date information on process status, enabling
the users to react swiftly to unforeseen events.
CONCLUSION
This new wave of technology innovation will cause
massive changes in the way that business can be conducted,
opening up the business world to the world of ubiquitous
computing. The next phase of the software and Internet
evolution will start to merge bits with atoms. Mobile
business will keep people connected to the network and
will allow devices to be tracked and monitored. Business
process management will enable non-technical end users to
manage their business processes across multiple
organizations and to do so in a language they can
understand. M -Commerce still in its infancy is not
currently a major economic force but in all likelihood it
will become the future of global business.