M-Commerce: A Study 1

M-Commerce: A Study
1
B. Ravi Kumar, B.V.S.S. Subba Rao and K.N. Budha Prasad

Sir CR Reddy College of Engineering, Eluru, Andhra Pradesh

1
E-Mail: [email protected]

INTRODUCTION READINESS

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
Wireless applications are primarily meant for providing
accurate and timely information. An enterprise must
evaluate how ready they are to provide the said timely
at the same time and the making of the chipped stone, the information.
crude tool of our earliest ancestors, represents the
beginning of technology. Not surprisingly, the march of Evaluation of Devices and their
civilization has been measured by the technological Standardization
advances— from the Stone Age to Steel Age, from the
muscle power of animals to rocket and nuclear power and The issue of standardization on specific wireless devices
from hand tools to mass production lines, computer often arises when companies opt for wireless technology.
controlled factories and the use of robots in surgery. And Most prevalent wireless protocols area
the pace of progress of technology has been breathtaking. CDMA—Code Division Multiple Access – 2G
The twenty, first century, by all indications, would be a W-CDMA—Wide Band CDMA
different world. Communication has been developed so
GSM – 2G—Global System for Mobile Communication
well that the world is shrinking to a global village. Global
position system will aid navigation for all vehicles from GPRS—General Packet Radio Services – 2.5G
automobile to rockets. The new technologies may even Networks—3G & 4G Networks
repair the age-old destruction of natural vegetation by 3G systems provide faster communication devices
bringing bio-diversity to forms. including voice, fax and internet anytime and anywhere
Only a few years ago, electronic commerce visionaries with seamless global roaming. W-CDMA and CDMA 2000
were predicting the rapid acceptance of mobile business as are two major standards for 3G. In this CDMA, the
the natural result of the e-commerce. Traditional brick and information-bearing signal is multiplied with another at a
mortar consumer retail companies that developed e- faster rate, wider bandwidth digital signal that may carry a
business initiatives in the last few years as a way to attract unique orthogonal code. W-CDMA uses dedicated Time
Division Multiplexing (TDM) where by channel estimation
their consumers now must prepare for a possible paradigm
information is collected from another signal stream. CDMA
shift.
2000 uses Common Code Division Multiplexing (CDMA).
Access technologies are FDMA, TDMA & CDMD. 4G
WHAT IS M -COMMERCE mobile services are the advanced version of 3G mobile
communication services. The 4G mobile communication
A mobile commerce is the one that involves exchanging
services are expected to provide broadband, large capacity,
Internet contents with a network of mobile people via high speed data transmission, providing users with highly
wireless device.
quality color video images, 3D graphic animation games,
The need for mobile strategy: M-Business strategy can audio services, in 5.1 channels.
help the enterprise increase its business agility by applying Organizations are taking efforts to provide real-time
the right M -Business application and processes to the right
enterprise information to their mobile employees. Several
M -Business applications and processes to the right areas of
mobile applications have merged which allows full time
need and opportunities across all user systems. connectivity to the mobile work force.
The following are the critical factors while deciding on a
Network Diversity: Support multiple carriers and multiple
mobile enterprise strategy:
networks.
• Readiness of back-end systems Security Issues: WAP security infrastructure provides a
• Evaluation of devices and their standardization good foundation for M-Business security with a protected
• Network diversity point to point link between the handheld and WAP
• Security issues. gatew ay.
136 Mobile and Pervasive Computing (CoMPC–2008)

TECHNOLOGY FACTORS to mobile office solutions such as wireless enabling

Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino include real time
Mobile Platform Selection Criteria access to e-mail, calendars, contact information and
attachments.
To successfully enterprise application, mobile platforms
must support a number of standards to allow enterprises to Enterprise Applications
leverage existing technologies for the users.
• Transactional Interface with Back-end data: Mobile Many companies use wireless initiatives by enabling
platforms should connect directly to back -end data revenue generating field sales and field personnel. Wireless
sources and use open standards to support transactional extension of back-end data leverage investments in
application. enterprise applications such as Sales Force Automation
• Compatibility with Mobile standards: Mobile platform (SFA) software provide customer history, product
should simultaneously support the wireless networks specification, pricing and availability, terms and conditions
like CDMA, TDMA, GSM and IDEN. and enterprise information.
• Wireless Device Support: Mobile platforms should
support the digital devices including pagers, SMS, Web- Customer Relationship Management
enabled phones, Pocket PCs and other PDAs and any
other future devices. Systems help the managers interactions with customers by
• Seamless Integration of Data and Audio: Mobile improving sales, marketing and customer support
platform should support enterprise applications that are processes. Companies are now realizing that customer
best suited to multiple media formats. The platform service is a key differentiator to reduce customer agony and
should be able to blend voice and data through support increase customer loyalty.
for the audio channel enabling subscribers to move
normally form data to voice to data within a single Supply Chain Management
application.
SCM has evolved through the application of E-Business
Wireless and Mobile Middleware for Mobile technologies into a powerful strategic function.
Commerce Establishing wired business process across multiple
organization is a challenging task, which involves several
Mobile middleware can be defined as an enabling layer of inefficacies including incompatible technologies, operating
software that is used by application developers to connect systems, protocols, etc.
their M-Commerce applications with different networks The mobile capabilities of mobile SCM extension
and operating systems. In mobile commerce environment,
provide a convenient, time saving, and highly accurate
middleware becomes very important due to the potential
means of capturing data on movements of goods and other
values of many M -Commerce transactions, limited
capabilities of devices and diverse set of requirements events. They simplify checking and monitoring tasks and
presented by various M -Commerce applications. provide up-t o-date information on process status, enabling
the users to react swiftly to unforeseen events.
WAP is designed for interoperability of different
wireless networks, devices and applications using a
common set of applications and protocols. Using WAP
CONCLUSION
architecture, wireless middle can be deployed as a client on This new wave of technology innovation will cause
a mobile terminal and as a server on the gateway. WAP massive changes in the way that business can be conducted,
uses a micro browser as the client software and supports opening up the business world to the world of ubiquitous
text, graphics and standard Web content. WAP 2.0 is the
computing. The next phase of the software and Internet
latest that adds the support for “Push” operation, allowing
information to be sent without an explicit request to users. evolution will start to merge bits with atoms. Mobile
It also supports a variety of user interfaces and standard business will keep people connected to the network and
Internet protocols such as TCP/IP and HTTP. will allow devices to be tracked and monitored. Business
process management will enable non-technical end users to
POPULAR APPLICATIONS OF M-COMMERCE manage their business processes across multiple
organizations and to do so in a language they can
Mobile Office understand. M -Commerce still in its infancy is not
currently a major economic force but in all likelihood it
Corporate e-mail systems have become the foremost will become the future of global business.
connection system in the enterprise. Wireless access