M Commerce MIS

HAMADARD INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

Term Report

MOBILE

COMMERCE

Submitted to: Mr. M. Faisal Course: Management Information System Submitted by: M. Faisal Panawala GR # 2200649

Hamdard University, City Campus Karachi.

April 12, 2007

Hamdard Institute of Management Sciences

M. Faisal Panawala Page - 2 - GR # 2200649

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S/ NO. DESCRIPTION PAGE NO.

01. INTRODUCTION 5

02. IMPORTANCE OF E-COMMERCE 6

03. LATEST TRENDS & COMSUMER

REACTION 7

04. HARDWARE 9

05. SOFTWARE 10

06. NETWORK 10

07. ADVANTAGES 11

08. DISADVANTAGES 11

09. NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES 12

10. LEGACY LIMITATIONS 15

11. POTENTIAL RISK 15



April 12, 2006

Mr. Muhammad Faisal


Hamdard University

City Campus

Karachi. Subject: LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Dear Sir,

With all due respect I am thankful to you for giving us a worth-while opportunity

to have the new experience which is not only fruitful in my present but also will

help me in future because of its practical nature and application.

Enclosed find herewith a term report on M-commerce. This report is prepared on

estimating “Importance, limitations & Potential risk of M-commerce”. In order to

make this report reliable, authentic and near to the facts, I tried our level best to

get as much information as I can.

Report is submitted for your kind perusal please.

Yours truly,

_________________________________________

M. Faisal Panawala

GR # 2200649



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all I am grateful to Almighty Allah, for his blessings that enabled me to

understand and undertake the opportunity for completing this report with the right

approach and sense of direction.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Muhammad Faisal, the respected

teacher for giving us an opportunity to work on a practical approach project and

giving us the guidance to complete the same.

I would also like to thank all the friends, colleagues and concerned persons who

helped me in the preparation of this report.

Special thanks go to all those who contributed in the formation of this report in

order to make it they tried their level best and in collected as much information as

they can.



1. Introduction

M-commerce is the market of buying and selling goods with wireless technology

such as PDA’s and cellular phones primarily

within the retail, telecommunications and

financial services industries. Many phone

companies are enabling services for M-commerce

applications and marketing their products to

organizations who can utilize M commerce.

Wireless technology has brought its benefits to

M-Commerce and its challenges as well.

M-commerce can have easy portable access to the web with web-based

applications, but very slow data transfer speeds. Keypads of phones are sometimes

difficult to use especially when there is a need to enter text. Many companies use

the one button approach to make transactions easy when the data is on file. With

little graphics on the screen of most cell phones, buying this way requires prior

knowledge of transaction needs and M-Commerce techniques. The use of mobile

technology is primarily used for email and messaging as well as weather alerts and

reminders.

Though ecommerce has grown as expected, M-Commerce has not taken off the

same way for the use of goods and services. Wireless services are not everywhere

and consumers often do not feel safe or happy buying with their phone. As

technology increases this may change. As for now Consumer’s use M-commerce

as a portable friend to communicate and to do transactions. When consumers feel

secure, they buy. As the younger generation grows with wireless business models

will further develop M-Commerce.



Researchers see games as an avenue to attract more consumers as they become

more efficient with their phones. An area of promise for

M-Commerce is in the travel industry. A consumer stuck

in traffic or suddenly aware of an unexpected urgent

meeting has a need to pay for an airline/train ticket or

secure a hotel room. This is possible with M-Commerce.

Arranging business meetings or short conferences is a

common use of mobile communicating in the business

world. Buying stock over the phone is a convenience for

some. Retail consumers still enjoy browsing at stores or

through catalogs. Internet shoppers prefer wide-screens that can hold the graphics

that mobile phones usually do not. Many consumers are not familiar enough with

accessing their voice mail, let alone making major purchases with tiny keypads

and sequence shopping. As technology becomes more common in the consumer’s

lifestyle, business models will become more apparent for M-Commerce.

2. The Importance of E-Commerce in today’s economy

E-commerce has become an

essential part of our nation’s

economic growth in the past

years. With the emergence

and fall of numerous

dot.com companies, the

government can no longer

consider e-commerce a

technological phase. In June 1999, the Center for Research in Electronic

Commerce at University of Texas, Austin was the first to study, and recognize e-



commerce as a separate entity (the internet economy) in the nation’s economy.

The study determined that the Internet economy generated approximately $301

billion in revenues in 1998 and created over 1.2 million jobs. This is particularly

note worthy since dotcom’s make up only 9.6 percent of all online businesses.

(According to the report “Measuring the Internet Economy”.) Experts continue on

to state that with the slowing of the “non-technical” economy, the “internet

economy” will slow as well; however, not at the rate the “non-technical” economy

will. Now comes the question as to why? Unlike the “non-technical” economy

that mainly relies on domestic consumers, the “internet economy” has a larger

number of elements involved, such as business-to-business transactions, business

to consumer, and the international markets. Needless to say, without the “internet

economy” the Untied States would not have enjoyed the economic boom that it

has for ten years.

3. Latest Trends & Consumer reactions

The latest trends of e-commerce include electronic bill pay, digital signatures,

online banking just to name a few. Electronic bill pay is essentially paying your

household bills over the internet. In most cases, it works

like this. The consumer subscribes to an EBP provider,

deposits funds (or you allow them access to your bank

account) with them and as the consumer receives their

bills in the mail, they in turn email them to their EBP

provider with the date that they want the invoices paid.

What can go wrong? Plenty Consumers have registered

complaints with the Federal Trade Commission stating

that the EBP providers were not paying their bills in time. Therefore, consumers

were assessed late charges and damaging credit ratings. This service has



improved since it was first offered a few years ago. The security has increased

and the government now keeps a closer eye on this type of business.

Digital signatures are the latest from the e-commerce

world. This allows consumers to sign legal documents

across the country without being physically there. This

latest trend has really taken off in the housing market.

Allowing prospective buyers to sign closing contracts with out taking time off is

wonderful. Consumers love this idea. These contracts are legally binding and

hold the same weight in court as if you were there in person. The major draw back

to this type of service is identity theft. This has become an increasing problem

through out the year. Consumers and businesses alike have yet to come up with a

viable option to correct this problem. The FTC suggestion was to only do

business with the businesses that consumers are familiar. However, this does not

help emerging companies trying to enter the marketplace.

Online banking is the banking industry to compete with on another and with the

electronic bill pay providers. Online banking allows consumers to check their

balances, pay bills, purchase certificate of deposits and apply for loans all from the

consumers’ home. This is a wonderful service that the

banking industry has offered. The draw back for consumers

is with servers crashing and hackers downloading your

banking information. Whereas, the banking industry has

taken extreme measures to ensure the consumers privacy no

system is hacker proof. Consumers can protect themselves

by not downloading their banking information at the same

time (they need to do it at varying times) according to banking experts.



From the advantages and the disadvantages, the economic weight to the latest

trend e-commerce is no longer an emerging force. E-Commerce is a force that has

a strong presence not only in the Untied States but internationally as well.

4. Hardware:

Mobile computing device - be it, a notebook, hand-

held computer, pen computer, PDA, PalmOS

compatible PDA, Symbian EPOC handheld device,

Windows CE/Pocket PC device, or a modern

smart phone with Wireless Internet connectivity

A suitably-configured wire line or wireless WAN

modem, wireless LAN adapter, or a flash card

either as a distinctly separate accessory or embedded on the device - as is the trend

now.

A Web Server with wireless support, WAP gateway, a Communications Server

and/or MCSS (Mobile communications server switch) or a wireless gateway

embedded in wireless carrier's network - this server provides communications

functionality to allow the handheld device to communicate with the Internet or

Intranet infrastructure. An application or database server (the hardware piece) with

application logic and business application database - tier 2 server

Optionally, a large enterprise application server (tier3) in the form of a UNIX

super server, IBM’s AS/400 server or IBM's OS/390 mainframe.

5. Software:

Mobile client OS-type software that resides in the mobile device - it may be

Windows98/2000/NT, PalmOS, Win CE (or Pocket PC), EPOC, a specialized OS

like Blackberry, or a Web browser



Mobile application user interface with application logic in a handheld PDA, smart

phone, Palm or a Wintel notebook. In the Internet world, it is often under the

control of a browser or micro browser.

Wireless middleware that links multiple wireless

networks to application servers. Data synchronization

software that synchronizes data in the mobile device with

the network server or the backend server

Mobile Device management software like: XcelleNet's Afaria, Synchrologic

Mobile suite or Mobile Automation's MA2000. Finally, the most useful software -

end user application like messaging, sales force automation, public query, data

collection, etc.

6. Network

A wireless network - this may be either a private network that police agencies and

emergency health services use or a public shared network

that is provided by network providers, such as Cingular

(formerly Bell South Wireless Data), Verizon, Sprint

PCS, Nextel, Bell Mobility (Canada) , Roger's AT&T

(Canada), Vodafone in Europe, BT in UK, NTT

DoCoMo (Japan), etc.

While wireless network provides true mobility, you may utilize a wire line

network for those mobile users who need occasion connection from hotels, motels

or airport lounges of airline's regular patrons. Some of these airports are now

offering wireless LAN connectivity to wire line backend networks.



7. Advantages of M-commerce

• Ubiquity: the end user device is mobile, that is the user can access

applications in real time at any place.

• Security: depending on specific end user device, the device offers a certain

level of inherent security. For example SIM card employed in mobile stores

confidential user information such as secret authentication key.

• Localization: a network operator can localize registered users by using

positioning systems, such as GPS, GSM or UMTS network technology.

• Convenience: the size and weight of mobile device and their ubiquity and

accessibility makes them an ideal tool for performing personal tasks.

• Personalization: mobile devices are not usually shared between users.

Mobile operator can offer personalized services to its users.

8. Disadvantages of M-commerce

• Mobile devices offer limited capabilities such as limited display

• The heterogeneity of devices, operation systems and network technologies

is a challenge for a uniform end user platform.

• Mobile devices are more prone to theft & destruction.

• The communication over the air interface between mobile device and

network introduces additional security threats.



9. Network technologies of M-commerce

GSM

Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is the current European

standard for mobile communications. GSM handsets are popular and widespread,

they have to be considered as the major device for mobile commerce at the

moment. The data services provided are

• SMS (short message service) allows the exchange of 160 character short

messages over the signaling channel.



• WAP (wireless application protocol) permits access to internet content and

applications formatted in WML (wireless markup language)

• HSCSD (high speed circuit switched data) provides higher data rates by

channel handling.

• GPRS (general packet radio service) extends GSM with packet oriented

services. GPRS can also be used as a bearer service for WAP & SMS.

UMTS

Universal Mobile

Telecommunication System) is

the next generation (3G) mobile

telecommunication system and a

further development of GSM. In

general, the security architecture

of UMTS is carefully designed to

fix the security weakness of

GSM. Crucially, 3G/UMTS has

been specified as an integrated

solution for mobile voice and data

with wide area coverage.

Universally standardized via the Third Generation Partnership Project

(www.3gpp.org) and using globally harmonized spectrum in paired and unpaired

bands, 3G/UMTS in its initial phase offers theoretical bit rates of up to 384 kbps in

high mobility situations, rising as high as 2 Mbps in stationary/nomadic user

environments. Symmetry between uplink and downlink data rates when using

paired (FDD) spectrum also means that 3G/UMTS is ideally suited for

applications such as real-time video telephony - in contrast with other technologies



such as ADSL where there is a pronounced asymmetry between uplink and

downlink throughput rates.

WLAN

The IEEE standard 802.11 specifies families of wireless local area networks (WLAN) which operate in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a wireless technology developed by the

Bluetooth Special Interest group and is mainly aiming at

ad hoc Pico nets and connections to peripheral devices.

Bluetooth technology will probably often be used in the

future to connect devices in the personal environment

which makes it relevant for M-commerce.



10. Legacy Limitations

More than ever, subscriber demands are driving innovation in

telecommunications. Whether it’s a teenager downloading a ring tone to his cell

phone, a businesswoman text messaging her assistant, or a remote employee

retrieving email on his personal digital assistant (PDA), consumers and businesses

are demanding mobility, “always-on” access, and ease of use at the user level-and

more critically, at the device level. In short, consumers want more control over the

selection and management of their services, including how and when they pay for

them. Service providers must work to enhance user loyalty by providing relevant

options that are continuously improved and enhanced as market demands and

technologies evolve.

These changes in the communications landscape have a profound effect on the

billing environment and its business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS).

Most existing BSS/OSS lacks the flexibility to quickly integrate new service

offerings, effectively creating barriers between customers and the products they

want to buy. These impediments can lead to inefficient product delivery which, in

turn, leads to higher churn rates. Because of the limitations of legacy systems,

service providers can, at best, only control the customer experience in a reactive

manner and they lose the ability to adapt quickly and take advantage of new

opportunities.

11. Potential Risks

Consumer organizations are becoming increasingly concerned that the risks of

mobile commerce have not been addressed adequately. In August 2005, the Trans

Atlantic Consumer Dialogue issued a resolution outlining the following risks:

1. Unfair marketing and unfair business practices: Products and services may

be misrepresented by vendors. Insufficient (or hard to read) details about the



goods and the terms and conditions of sale may be provided. Spam may increase.

And marketing may be targeted at children and other vulnerable consumers, who

may not have the capacity or authority to make purchases

2. Lack of security of financial information: There are concerns about the

security of consumers’ financial information. Information could be intercepted in

transmission or obtained surreptiously

3. Unauthorized purchases: Unless there is a PIN or some other form of

authentication required, it is easy to use someone else’s mobile without their

consent

4. Problems obtaining redress: When things go wrong, it may be hard for

consumers to prove the details of transactions, if the purchase details are not

recorded (for example, on mobile phone bills)

5. Illegal activities: Mobile phones, like other forms of technology, can be

misused if consumers access illegal content (such as child pornography); and

6. Privacy and discrimination: Vendors may collect information about what

consumers buy and where they go, and use it for unauthorized purposes, including

sharing it (without consent) with others. This may, for instance, lead to more

intrusive marketing.

The information collected could also be used to identify the most profitable

consumers to offer them the best deals, leaving the less profitable consumers

increasingly excluded from markets.

M Commerce MIS

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