Applications of M-Commerce

The general m-commerce applications are:

1.  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.

2.  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:

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

3.  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.

4.  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

5.  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.

6.  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.

7.  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.

8.  Auctions

Over the past three years Mobile reverse action 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.

9.  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 retailer's 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.

10.  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.

Technologies of M-commerce

1. GPRS (General Packet Radio System):

GPRS is a non-voice service that allows speedy transmission of data. It is a packet-switched technology, which means that the data to be sent is broken up into small packets, which are "routed by the network resources is optimized as the resources are needed only during the handling of each packet.

Advantages of GPRS:

  • Speedy: By using all eight time-slots simultaneously GPRS can theoretically achieve transmission rates of up to 115.2 kbps, about two times faster than ISDN and ten times faster than other circuit switched GSM standard.
  • Immediacy: GPRS enabled mobile devices are, subject to network coverage of the geographic area, always connected to the network ("Always-on, Always connected" feature). The user does not have to dial up a connection to receive information.
  • Innovative services: GPRS can offer services that were not possible due to low transmission rates. It facilitates creation of WAP – pages similar to internet based web-pages and provides access to many other services, for example, the Internet, email, music and office applications.
  • Costs advantage: The subscriber pays for the volume of the transmitted data and not the time required to the process.

2. TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access):

It is a digital transport that divides range assign to it into the series of channel and each channel is divided into time slot. Each conversation within that channel affects that time slot. It is use in Global system for mobile communication (GSM).

3. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access):

In CDMA, a transmitter assign a unique code to each wireless connection and then broadcast its data on the channel simultaneously with all other The receiver is able to decode its conversation by knowing the unique code assign to each connection.

4. GSM (Global System for Mobile communication):

Using an all digital TDMA based network, every GSM phone has access to a variety of data function with the speed of 9600 bits per second. These services include direct connect internet access (circuit switching as well as packet switching) without requiring a modem. Its basic features are:

    • A broad offer on voice and data communication services.
    • Compatibility with fixed-line networks, g. Analog and integrated service digital networks (ISDN) due to standardized interfaces.
    • Automatic roaming and handover procedures.
    • Support for various types of mobile devices, g. hand-held devices and devices mounted in vehicles.
    • Independent of device manufacturers.

Different generations of Wireless Communication

0G

0G, also known as Mobile radio telephone, are the systems that preceded modern cellular mobile telephony technology.

1G

1G (or 1-G) refers to the first generation of wireless telephone technology (mobile telecommunications). These are the analog telecommunications standards that were introduced in the 1980s and continued until being replaced by 2G digital telecommunications. The main difference between the two mobile telephone systems (1G and 2G), is that the radio signals used by 1G networks are analog, while 2G networks are digital.

2G

2G (or 2-G) provide three primary benefits over their predecessors: phone conversations were digitally encrypted; 2G systems were significantly more efficient on the spectrum allowing for far greater mobile phone penetration levels; and 2G introduced data services for mobile, starting with SMS text messages. 2G technologies enabled the various mobile phone networks to provide the services such as text messages, picture messages and MMS (multimedia messages).

All text messages sent over 2G are digitally encrypted, allowing for the transfer of data in such a way that only the intended receiver can receive and read it.

Second generation 2G   cellular   telecom   networks   were   commercially   launched   on the GSM standard in Finland by Radiolinja (now part of Elisa Oyj) in 1991.

3G

3G technology provide an information transfer rate of at least 200 kbit/s. Later 3G releases, often   denoted 3.5G and 3.75G,    also    provide mobile broadband access    of several Mbit/s to smartphones and mobile modems in laptop computers. This ensures it can be applied to wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video calls and mobile TV technologies.

A new generation of cellular standards has appeared approximately every tenth year since 1G systems were introduced in 1981/1982. Each generation is characterized by new frequency bands, higher data rates and non–backward-compatible transmission technology. The first 3G networks were introduced in 1998 and fourth generation 4G networks in 2008.

3.5G

4G

4G provides, in addition to the usual voice and other services of 3G, mobile broadband Internet access, for example to laptops with wireless modems, to smartphones, and to other mobile devices. Potential and current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, 3D television, and cloud computing.

4.5G

  • G provides better performance than 4G systems, as an interim step towards deployment of full 5G The technology includes:

5G

5G denotes the next major phase of mobile telecommunications standards beyond the current 4G/IMT-Advanced standards.

NGMN Alliance or Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance define 5G network requirements as:

  • Data rates of several tens of Mb/s should be supported for tens of thousands of users.
  • 1 Gbit/s to be offered, simultaneously to tens of workers on the same office floors.
  • Several hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections to be supported for massive sensor deployments.
  • Spectral efficiency should be significantly enhanced compared to 4G.
  • Coverage should be improved.
  • Signalling efficiency enhanced.
  • Latency should be significantly reduced compared to LTE.

Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance feel that 5G should be rolled out by 2020 to meet business and consumer demands. In addition to simply providing faster speeds, they predict that 5G networks will also need to meet the needs of new use-cases such as the Internet of Things as well as broadcast-like services and lifeline communications in times of disaster.

Wi-Fi:

The term Wi-Fi suggests Wireless Fidelity. It is hardware and software devices. It is wireless technology and network connecting device. Wi-Fi is not a technical term. The technical term of Wi-Fi is "IEEE 802.11". The term Wi-Fi, first used commercially in august 1999. Wi-Fi networks have limited range. A typical wireless router with a stock antenna might have a range of 32 meter indoors and 95 meter outdoors. Nowadays Wi-Fi is used in many personal computers, video game consoles, MP3 players, smart phones, printers, digital cameras laptop computers and other devices. Wi-Fi is used to create wireless LAN to connect computer system.

                                                       

Bluetooth:

Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices. Bluetooth is used to create personal area networks (PANs) with high levels of security. Bluetooth was created by telecoms vendor Ericsson in 1994.