M Commerce

Mobile Telephone 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."

This definition provides for a differentiation of Mobile Commerce from other related fields such as Electronic Commerce, Electronic Business and Mobile Business.

History

During the dot-com boom, the idea that highly profitable mobile commerce applications would be possible through the broadband mobile telephony provided by 2.5G and 3G cellphone services was one of the main reasons for hundreds of billions of dollars in licensing fees paid by European telecommunications companies for UMTS and other 3G licenses in 2000 and 2001.

PDAs and cellular phones have become so popular that many businesses are beginning to use m-commerce as a more efficient method of reaching the demands of their customers. Although technological trends and advances are concentrated in Asia and in Europe, North America (Canada and the United States) is also beginning to experiment with early-stage m-commerce.

The recent alliance between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire for WiMAX networks being built for completion by 2008 will acclerate the more data-intensive 4G networks that will provide a turning point in m-commerce in North America.The forthcoming spectrum auction by FCC, scheduled for early 2008, portends major auction rule changes that are geared for more consumer options and less control by telecom operators as "network gatekeepers". The auction rule changes are being pushed by Google, irking Verizon Wireless and AT&T and signifying a big change coming to m-commerce.

Two people who have been speaking and launching content of mobisodes and working with many global companies have been Leveious Rolando -Gibran Burchett who recent been interviewed in up-coming BBC Documentry on Mobile market and Global Youth culture ,understands how vital The youth market is at the forefront of technology adoption in the global hand-held devices market. This market segment is leading the way for the adoption of premium content and applications.

The less price sensitive early adopters from the 13-25 age group could primarily drive the initial growth, notes the Leveious Rolando says. In fact, growth in mobile products such as ringtones, games, and graphics will displace spending on many traditional youth products such as music, clothing, and movies. Radically changes the dynamics of all visual- entertainment and product-services distribution world wide so you can target the end-user diverse youth mind set. Since youth market has historically shown a rapid viral point view which will gain acceptance in the mass market. While emerging markets are proving to be the ideal solution for sustaining revenues in the face of falling average price per unit, analysts said 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, the industry's answer to the Swiss Army Knife, and ways to reach them. Using Bluetooth technology, smart phones offer fax, e-mail, and phone capabilities all … but market had to be engulf with the context of the youth life style that drives content back and forth world wide and use 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 -Gibran Burchett at a Mobile Commerce meeting in Japan August 2007.

Products & Services Available

Mobile Ticketing

Tickets can be sent to mobile phones using a variety of technologies including bCODE and NFC. Users are then able to use their tickets immediately by presenting their phones at the venue. Recently, WiMAX-enabled dashtop mobile payment platforms made a debut, ID on kiosk keypads at the entrance of ballparks, airports, train stations instead of physical tickets, but this dashtop mobile equipment will take some years to get commercially implemented.

The travel industry is realizing the potential benefits of m-commerce, and is working on technologies that will eventually equal the ratio of bCode and NFC, update customers on flight status, notify them when this information changes and will offer to make new arrangements based on preset user preferences requiring no input from the user. Therefore, a customer’s entire trip can be scheduled and maintained using a mobile device.

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/Loyalty Cards

Mobile ticketing technology can also be used for the distribution of vouchers/coupons/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:

* economy of scale
* quicker and easier delivery
* effective target marketing
* privacy-friendly data mining on consumer behaviour
* environment-friendly and resources-saving efficacy

Content Purchase & 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.

A new online shopping trend of "booking on the web for pickup later in stores" is evolving into a new concept: Just In Time(JIT) pickup for mobile shopping behind the wheel. This JIT pickup for mobile shopping indicates a "real-time bridge between virtual world and real world".

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:

* local maps
* local offers
* local weather
* people tracking and monitoring

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:

* news services
* stock data
* sports results
* financial records
* traffic data and information

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 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. New technology from companies like ShopText allow consumers to purchase products from their cell phones using text messaging and technology from companies like mShopper & mPoria allow retailers to launch their own mobile commerce shopping sites.

Mobile Marketing

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. New technology from companies like mPoria are also allowing companies to sell merchandise to consumers over the mobile internet.

Mobile Vouchers/Coupons/Loyalty Cards

In combination with pos terminals this technique can be used for distributing vouchers for top up of mobile phone accounts. Advantage of this system is reduce of cost for distribution, main disadvantage is that that you need a widely spread network of pos terminals. There are two models present in the market: voucher distribution (PIN based), where hidden recharge number (PIN) is printed on terminal and direct top up, where subsribers number is entered on terminal and recharged automatically.

Payment Methods

The main payment methods used to enable mobile commerce are:

* premium-rate calling numbers,
* charging to the mobile telephone user's bill or
* deducting from their calling credit.
* registration of a credit card that is linked to a SIM_card.

Related Technologies

* bCODE
* Near Field Communication
* SMS
* MMS
* Fixed Mobile Convergence
(Credit: Wikipedia).

Media Man Australia can assist you with your mobile telephony requirements.

Greg Tingle

On various projects Paul Budde will also assist.

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