Mobile Commerce

CHAPTER 6

Faculty of Information & Communication Technology
BIC3513 E-Commerce Systems
LESOTHO
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The Knowledge Context Map

Defining M-commerce
Mobile commerce/M-commerce is concerned with the use,
application and integration of wireless telecommunication technologies
and wireless devices within the business systems domain.
The area of M-commerce includes reference to the infrastructures and
electronic technologies necessary for wireless data and information
transfer, in all its multimedia forms (i.e. text, graphics, video and voice).
It also incorporates the study of the various wireless technologies, and
the portable mobile devices, used to send and receive data and
information (e.g. mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and
wireless modems).

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Basic M-commerce environment
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Basic M-commerce environment
The most commercial application of wireless telecommunications has
been the ability to access the Mobile Internet from portable devices,
such as PDAs and particularly mobile phones.
The Mobile Internet relies on a number of different networking
infrastructures and technologies to support wireless Internet access.
(However, the Mobile Internet is but one application amongst many
others within the M-commerce world.)
In a similar way, the mobile phone has come to be seen as the primary
device in the wireless world. Figure above shows the basic components
of the M-commerce environment. ( However, the mobile phone is only
one device amongst many other portable mobile devices (e.g. wireless
PDAs, wireless vending machines, wireless local area networks, etc.))
that need to be studied to appreciate the full breadth and richness of the
technologies, devices and applications available in the M-commerce
world.
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M-Commerce: TECHNOLOGY
Technological innovation has been critical to the adoption of m-
commerce.
We profile important network and service technologies.
N
etwork technologies
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Web 2.0 FRAMEWORK

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WEB 2.0 CHARACTERISTICS
Participation
Every aspect of Web 2.0 is driven by participation.
The transition to Web 2.0 was enabled by the emergence of
platforms such as blogging, social networks, and free image and
video uploading, that collectively allowed extremely easy content
creation and sharing by anyone.
Standards
Standards provide an essential platform for Web 2.0.
Common interfaces for accessing content and applications are the
glue that allow integration across the many elements of the
emergent web.


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WEB 2.0 CHARACTERISTICS
Decentralization
Web 2.0 is decentralized in its architecture, participation, and usage.
Power and flexibility emerges from distributing applications and
content over many computers and systems, rather than maintaining
them on centralized systems.
Openness
-The world of Web 2.0 has only become possible through a spirit of
openness whereby developers and companies provide open, transparent
access to their applications and content.
Modularity
-Web 2.0 is the antithesis of the monolithic. It emerges from many,
many components or modules that are designed to link and integrate
with others, together building a whole that is greater than the sum of
its parts.

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WEB 2.0 CHARACTERISTICS
User Control
A primary direction of Web 2.0 is for users to control the content
they create, the data captured about their web activities, and their
identity.
This powerful trend is driven by the clear desires of participants.

Identity
-Identity is a critical element of both Web 2.0 and the future direction
of the internet.
-We can increasingly choose to represent our identities however we
please, across interactions, virtual worlds, and social networks.
-We can also own and verify our real identities in transactions if we
choose.
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Web 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES
Aggregation: Bringing multiple content sources together into one
interface or application.
AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) : A combination of
technologies that enables highly interactive web applications.
API (Application Programming Interface) : A defined interface to a
computer application or database that allows access by other
applications.
Embedding : Integrating content or an application into a web page,
while the original format is maintained.
Folksonomy : Rich categorization of information that is collectively
created by users, through tagging and other actions. (cf. taxonomy)
Mashups : Combination of different types of content or data, usually
from different sources, to create something new.
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Web 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES
Remixing: Extracting and combining samples of content to create a
new output. The term was originally used in music but is now also
applied to video and other content.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication): A group of formats to publish
(syndicate) content on the internet so that users or applications
automatically receive any updates.
Ruby on Rails : An open source web application framework that is
frequently used in Web 2.0 website development.
Tag cloud :A visual depiction of tags that have been used to describe
a piece of content, with higher frequency tags emphasized to assist
content comprehension and navigation.
Tagging : Attaching descriptions to information or content.

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Web 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES
Virtual architecture : The creation of avatars (alternative
representations of people), buildings, objects, and other artifacts inside
virtual spaces.
Widget :Small, portable web application that can be embedded into
any web page.
XML (eXtensible Markup Language) : An open standard for
describing data, which enables easy exchange of information between
applications and organizations.
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Web 2.0 DOMAINS
Open web
The entire space of the World Wide Web open to anyone to access
and participate.
This has been the initial domain in which Web 2.0 technologies,
applications, and attitudes have developed.
Enterprise
Inside the firewalls of organizations and their business partners.
The power of Web 2.0 technologies, originally developed on the
open web, are now being applied within enterprises to enhance
performance and achieve business outcomes.
This domain is sometimes termed Enterprise 2.0.
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Web 2.0 Landscape
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Social Media
Social Media is a Web 2.0 innovation encouraging user-generated content
and extending the focus to the users by allowing them to curate others
content to share among their networks.
Social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online
media, which share most or all of the following characteristics:
Participation
-Social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is
interested.
-It blurs the line between media and audience.
Openness
-Most social media services are open to feedback and participation.
-They encourage voting, comments and the sharing of information.
-There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making use of content
password-protected content is frowned on.

Social Media
Conversation
-Whereas traditional media is about broadcast (content transmitted or
distributed to an audience) social media is better seen as a two-way
conversation.
Community
-Social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate
effectively.
-Communities share common interests, such as a love of photography, a
political issue or a favourite tv show.
Connectedness
-Most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness, making use of
links to other sites, resources and people.

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Basic forms of social media
At this time, there are basically six kinds of social media.
Note, though, that innovation and change are rife.
Social networks
These sites allow people to build personal web pages and then connect
with friends to share content and communication.
The biggest social networks are Myspace, Facebook and Bebo.
Blogs
Perhaps the best known form of social media, blogs are online journals,
with entries appearing with the most recent first.
Wikis
These websites allow people to add content to or edit the information on
them, acting as a communal document or database. the best-known wiki is
Wikipedia the online encyclopedia which has over 2 million English
language articles.
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Basic forms of social media
Podcasts
Audio and video files that are available by subscription, through services like Apple
iTunes.
Forums
-Areas for online discussion, often around specific topics and interests. Forums
came about before the term social media and are a powerful and popular element
of online communities.
Content communities
Communities which organize and share particular kinds of content. the most
popular content communities tend to form around photos (Flickr), bookmarked links
(del.icio.us) and videos (Youtube).
Microblogging
social networking combined with bite-sized blogging, where small amounts of
content (updates) are distributed online and through the mobile phone network.
Twitter is the clear leader in this field.

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Web 2.0 key practices
Information Gathering/Research: Search Engines, Directory
Services, Translated Searches, Tagging and Social Bookmarking.

Information Collaboration: Wikis, Google Drive, Cloud storage
services, collaborative maps, internet telephony.

Information Dissemination: Blogs, Micro blogging, Social Networking
Services

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What made it possible?

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1. Easy to use social media technologies and Web 2.0 tools

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What made it possible?
2. Falling prices of hardware & software
3. Technological advances
4. Increased connectivity
5. Easier to use devices/applications
-Less training required, less technical support
-Consequence: the focus is now on what you are doing, not how
you do it.

What made it possible?
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6. Internet increased communication access
Web 2.0 and Social Media is about
Collaboration
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The collaboration principal








Finding information
on the Internet
Different Types of Searches .
Search can be performed either through a search engine or a directory.
A search engine is automated while a directory service is compiled by
humans.
Searching with Google
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Alerts and RSS

The Google Alerts automatically notifies users when new content from
news, web, blogs, video and/or discussion groups matching a set of search
terms selected by the user is posted on the Internet.
For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Alerts

Users receive email updates related to the keyword/phrase of their
choice
Different options are available for
-Type of content
-Language
-Region/Country
-Frequency of delivery
-Number of results

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What is RSS?
Technically RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication
It publishes blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video in
a standardized format
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What is Social tagging
A tag is a relevant keyword or term associated to a piece of information
thus describing the item and enabling keyword based classification of
information it is applied to.
Tagging is a term used to describe human indexing on the Web, in
order to make it easier to find and share information.
Tags provide multiple ways to organize content
They provide content with context and meaning
Tags may be free or fixed
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What is Social tagging?

Tags are used in multiple social networking services and sites with
different purposes:
o intuitive navigation;
o providing aggregating content about users;
o facilitating access to data; and
o improving search results
Folksonomy
Is a collaborative categorization of content using freely chosen
keywords/tags (collaborative tagging/social classification/Social indexing
and Social Tagging)

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What is Social Bookmarking?
A social bookmarking service is a centralized online service which
enables users to add, annotate, edit, and share bookmarks of web
documents.
Allows one to save web pages address on the web under a personal
account. This makes it easy to:
o Tag and organize information
o Collaborate with other Internet users across the web by sharing your
bookmarks
o Categorize information in more than one way using tags
o Subscribe/follow other users tags by subscribing to their RSS feed.


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What is Content Curation?
Content curation is the process of collecting, organizing and
displaying information relevant to a particular topic or area of
interest.
Picking the best and most relevant content for your
community
Not just collecting links but
Provide context
Add annotations

Blogging
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A blog (short for web and log) is a website like an online journal. It is
an easy way to publish content, administered via a simple web-based
interface.
A blog is:
o essentially composed of posts (also called articles)
o organized chronologically by date (by default) and optionally, by
categories and by tags
o updated regularly and can be enriched with pictures, videos,
galleries, links and contents from other online resources
o self-archived by date
o equipped with an RSS feed that allows your readers to be updated
about the contents from your blog (using an appropriate RSS reader)

Blogging
Blogging means to maintain or add content to a blog.
Providing you have Internet access, you can easily and freely create a
blog on any topic.
Blogs radically changed the way in which the Internet was used, by
allowing people to publish their own content on a webpage, without the
technical expertise needed to set up a website or the funds to rent web
space.
A blog is usually maintained by an individual, but can also be done by
groups or organizations.
Blogs contain entries called posts of written commentary, news, events,
and other resources. Blogs can include multiple media such as text,
photos, video clips and audio files.
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Blogging
Blogs start with the newest not oldest posts this gives them a sense
current relevance.
Users can set up a blog on an existing blog platform, or download blog
software to run on their own web space. Most blogging platforms are free-
to-use.
Blog authors can allow others to comment on their posts and engage in
discussion.

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Some tips on how to start a blog

Choose a topic and have an audience in mind.
Check similar blogs. Start by commenting on them if you do not want to
start your own blog right away.
Develop your own style of blogging (writing), which suits you.
Stay focused. Write consistent, interesting and useful content. Try not
to over-generalize.
Stay well informed and up-to-date. You will need to lead discussions (and
eventually moderate comments).
Add content regularly and answer any comments and feedback.
Become part of a network by linking to your favourite blogs.
Use your blog to highlight and add to existing discussions.
Provide links in your blogs posts to where readers can find more
information
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Some tips on how to start a blog
If you refer to other blogs, make sure you link to them.
When you reference or link to another blog, use the 'linkback', 'trackback' or
'ping' function to automatically notify them that you have referred to them on
your blog.
It helps build community and often other blogs will list all the trackbacks a
particular post has had underneath the original post.
There are specialised search engines for blogs. Just as with normal search
engines and websites, you should register your blog with engines like
Technorati.
Also use their 'ping features to notify them when you have updated your blog
so that the blog search engine will index the content of your new post.
Allow your blog to be syndicated via RSS feeds. This means that others can
easily feature headlines from your blog on their own websites and your readers
can automatically receive updates when new material is published on your blog.
You may also wish to automatically feature content from other blogs and
websites (e.g. headlines) on your own blog by importing relevant RSS feeds.

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Some tools on blogging
Blog search engines :Find other blogs by keyword, topic or trend
and track the interconnections between bloggers: http://technorati.com
http://blogsearch.google.com etc..
Tips on blogging
http://blogsessive.com http://tinyurl.com/globalvoicesblog etc.
Blogging websites
http://www.blogger.com etc.
Blogging software: To download and host on your own web space:
http://www.wordpress.org http://www.moveabletype.org etc.
Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics) is a powerful tool to analyze
different aspects of your blog. You must create a Google Analytic account
first.
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Why people blog nowadays?
To demonstrate an e-presence, to be recognized and confirm existence
on the web (nowadays, if you are not on the web, you dont exist)
To inform others about whom you are, what you do and what makes
you different etc
o To communicate and share ideas and experiences
o To campaign about something
o To keep track of what youve been doing
o To be the first and be recognized
o To earn some incomes (doing advertisements etc )
o To increase popularity and fame

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Business-to-Government (B2G)
The government market is strikingly similar to B2B.

Huge potential for savings in $1.8 trillion federal and $1 trillion state and
local expenditures

Changing the status quo in government is not so easy
Changes to employee tasks and job restructuring often create
resistance
Tax savings potential is not easily recognized
Committing to technology means constant need for upgrades and
additional costs
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Key Elements of Internet, Extranet, and
Intranet eCommerce
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The Internet
Worldwide network of computer networks built on common
standards

Created in late 1960s

Services include the Web, e-mail, file transfers, etc.

Can measure growth by looking at number of Internet
hosts with domain names
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The Web
Most popular Internet service
Developed in early 1990s
Provides access to Web pages
HTML documents that may include text, graphics,
animations, music, videos
Web content has grown exponentially
Google reports 1 trillion unique URLs; 120 billion pages
indexed
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INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS
The Internet Big Picture
World Internet Users and Population Stats
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WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS
December 31, 2013
World
Regions
Population
( 2014 Est.)
Internet Users
Dec. 31, 2000
Internet Users
Latest Data
Penetration
(% Population)
Growth
2000-
2014
Users
%
of
Table
Africa 1,125,721,038 4,514,400 240,146,482 21.3 % 5,219.6 % 8.6 %
Asia 3,996,408,007 114,304,000 1,265,143,702 31.7 % 1,006.8 % 45.1 %
Europe 825,802,657 105,096,093 566,261,317 68.6 % 438.8 % 20.2 %
Middle
East
231,062,860 3,284,800 103,829,614 44.9 % 3,060.9 % 3.7 %
North
America
353,860,227 108,096,800 300,287,577 84.9 % 177.8 % 10.7 %
Latin
America /
Caribbean
612,279,181 18,068,919 302,006,016 49.3 % 1,571.4 % 10.8 %
Oceania /
Australia
36,724,649 7,620,480 24,804,226 67.5 % 225.5 % 0.9 %
WORLD
TOTAL
7,181,858,619 360,985,492 2,802,478,934 39.0 % 676.3 %
100.0
%
NOTES: (1) Internet Usage and World Population Statistics are for December 31, 2013. (2) CLICK on
each world region name for detailed regional usage information. (3) Demographic (Population)
numbers are based on data from the US Census Bureau and local census agencies. (4) Internet usage
information comes from data published by Nielsen Online, by the International Telecommunications
Union, by GfK, local ICT Regulators and other reliable sources. (5) For definitions, disclaimers,
navigation help and methodology, please refer to the Site Surfing Guide. (6) Information in this site
may be cited, giving the due credit towww.internetworldstats.com. Copyright 2001 - 2014, Miniwatts
Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.

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TOP 20 COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST NUMBER OF
INTERNET USERS - JUNE 30, 2012
#
Country or
Region
Population,
2012 Est
Internet Users
Year 2000
Internet Users
Latest Data
Penetration
(% Population)
Users
% World
1 China 1,343,239,923 22,500,000 538,000,000 40.1 % 22.4 %
2 United States 313,847,465 95,354,000 245,203,319 78.1 % 10.2 %
3 India 1,205,073,612 5,000,000 137,000,000 11.4 % 5.7 %
4 Japan 127,368,088 47,080,000 101,228,736 79.5 % 4.2 %
5 Brazil 193,946,886 5,000,000 88,494,756 45.6 % 3.7 %
6 Russia 142,517,670 3,100,000 67,982,547 47.7 % 2.8 %
7 Germany 81,305,856 24,000,000 67,483,860 83.0 % 2.8 %
8 Indonesia 248,645,008 2,000,000 55,000,000 22.1 % 2.3 %
9 United Kingdom 63,047,162 15,400,000 52,731,209 83.6 % 2.2 %
10 France 65,630,692 8,500,000 52,228,905 79.6 % 2.2 %
11 Nigeria 170,123,740 200,000 48,366,179 28.4 % 2.0 %
12 Mexico 114,975,406 2,712,400 42,000,000 36.5 % 1.7 %
13 Iran 78,868,711 250,000 42,000,000 53.3 % 1.7 %
14 Korea 48,860,500 19,040,000 40,329,660 82.5 % 1.7 %
15 Turkey 79,749,461 2,000,000 36,455,000 45.7 % 1.5 %
16 Italy 61,261,254 13,200,000 35,800,000 58.4 % 1.5 %
17 Philippines 103,775,002 2,000,000 33,600,000 32.4 % 1.4 %
18 Spain 47,042,984 5,387,800 31,606,233 67.2 % 1.3 %
19 Vietnam 91,519,289 200,000 31,034,900 33.9 % 1.3 %
20 Egypt 83,688,164 450,000 29,809,724 35.6 % 1.2 %
TOP 20 Countries 4,664,486,873 273,374,200 1,776,355,028 38.1 % 73.8 %
Rest of the World 2,353,360,049 87,611,292 629,163,348 26.7 % 26.2 %
Total World Users 7,017,846,922 360,985,492 2,405,518,376 34.3 % 100.0 %
NOTES: (1) Top 20 Internet User Statistics were updated for June 30, 2012. (2) Additional data for individual countries and
regions may be found by clicking each country name. (3) The most recent user information comes from data published
byNielsen Online, International Telecommunications Union, Official country reports, and other trustworthy research
sources. (4) Data from this site may be cited, giving the due credit and establishing an active link back
to www.internetworldstats.com.
Copyright 2012, Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.

Origins & Growth of eCommerce
Precursors:
Baxter Healthcare (1970, pharmaceutical firm, B2B, telephone-based
modem, hospital reorder supplies)
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards (exchange commercial
documents and transactions)
French Minitel (1980s videotext system, B2C, 13,000 services:
ticket agencies, travel services, retail products, online banking)
None had functionality of Internet
1995: Beginning of eCommerce
First sales of banner advertisements by AT&T, Volvo, Sprint
Since then, eCommerce fastest growing form of commerce in
the United States
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Share of retail online sales by type
of company
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Top 10 Most Popular Search
Engines | August 2014
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1 | Google 1 - eBizMBA Rank | 1,100,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors | 1 - Compete Rank | 1 -
Quantcast Rank | 1 - Alexa Rank | August 27, 2014. The Most Popular Search Engines | eBizMBA
2 | Bing 15 - eBizMBA Rank | 350,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors | 5 - Compete Rank | 19 -
Quantcast Rank | 22 - Alexa Rank | August 27, 2014. The Most Popular Search Engines | eBizMBA
3 | Yahoo! Search 18 - eBizMBA Rank | 300,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors
| *8* - Compete Rank |*28* - Quantcast Rank | NA - Alexa Rank | August 27, 2014.
The Most Popular Search Engines | eBizMBA
4 | Ask 25 - eBizMBA Rank | 245,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors | 14 -
Compete Rank | 31 - Quantcast Rank | 31 - Alexa Rank | August 27, 2014.
The Most Popular Search Engines | eBizMBA
5 | Aol Search 245 - eBizMBA Rank | 125,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors |
*250* - Compete Rank |*240* - Quantcast Rank | NA - Alexa Rank | August 27, 2014.
The Most Popular Search Engines | eBizMBA
Top 10 Most Popular Search
Engines | August 2014
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6 | Wow 271 - eBizMBA Rank | 100,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors | 20 -
Compete Rank |*26* - Quantcast Rank | 767 - Alexa Rank | August 27, 2014.
The Most Popular Search Engines | eBizMBA
7 | WebCrawler 511 - eBizMBA Rank | 65,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors
| 100 - Compete Rank |759 - Quantcast Rank | 674 - Alexa Rank | August 27, 2014.
The Most Popular Search Engines | eBizMBA
8 | MyWebSearch 545 - eBizMBA Rank | 60,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors | *105*
- Compete Rank |1,124 - Quantcast Rank | 405 - Alexa Rank | August 27, 2014.
The Most Popular Search Engines | eBizMBA
9 | Infospace 892 - eBizMBA Rank | 24,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors | *66* -
Compete Rank |*500* - Quantcast Rank | 2,110 - Alexa Rank | August 27, 2014.
The Most Popular Search Engines | eBizMBA
10 | Info 1,064 - eBizMBA Rank | 13,500,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors | 378 -
Compete Rank |877 - Quantcast Rank | 1,938 - Alexa Rank | August 27, 2014.
The Most Popular Search Engines | eBizMBA