WIRELESS & MOBILE COMMERCE

A summary of the main things one would need to know as of April 2001. This summary #1 was compiled by students in IEC 802, Seneca College, Toronto, Canada

 www.iec.senecac.on.ca/ 

When you look at Wireless & M-Commerce industry, it is so vast in itself that it is better to concentrate on one particular market sector.For this assignment, we have chosen to focus on the financial segment.

One underlying notion is that the wireless industry sells convenience.Meaning that if you want a service you need to pay for it.

Limitations to Wireless Technologies:
 

  1. M-Commerce for Business

What are the benefits?

ØLowers cost (i.e., banking charges by at least 50%)

ØAlways On, Always Connected – Increase sales, customer satisfaction,

ØMaking Interactive with the client www.veev.bmo.com/VeevSS/en_CA_VSS/features.html

What are the challenges?

ØCustomization – increases cost for

ØCoverage Limitations

ØSecurity- Customer perception opposed to reality

ØRestructure IT Department or Outsource?Example:www.724.com

What do companies need to know about in order to implement it?

ØIs it viable?Need to think about Five environments – Political, Social, Economic, Competitive, Technological

ØProduct, Place, Promotion , and Price

Who are its carriers/providers?

Four major carriers in Canada – Microcell, Rogers, Telus, and Bell Mobility 

Example: Canadian Royal Bank with Microcell http://www.royalbank.com/mobile/fido

ØCheck the balances of your Royal Bank chequing and savings accounts,

lines of credit, or VISA‡ credit card accounts (up to 10 accounts);

ØCheck the last five transactions for your chequing and savings accounts, or

ØVISA credit card accounts;

ØTransfer funds of the same currency between accounts;

ØPay your bills;

ØObtain selected current foreign exchange rates;

ØObtain current Royal Bank prime rates;

Ø Rapidly contact Royal Bank customer service;

ØObtain up-to-the-minute account information.

Example:American Service Providers

http://www.wirelessfinancialservices.net/techcompany.html

  1. Customer

What is the end user willing to pay for services? 

To obtain these service individuals need to pay the carriers a service fee to activate web-enabled capabilities.

Wireless is sold as a convenience to consumers. In the past the on-line selling was made cheaper to hook people on to the internet.

Are you looking for applications to save time? Kill time? 

Navigation – Traffic measures

Itinerary – Directions, How

Proximity – Location based services

Games – Location based games