Page 158 - DCAP307_PLANNING_AND_MANAGING_IT_INFRASTRUCTURE

Planning and Managing IT Infrastructure

Notes 5. In mobile commerce, service quality primarily depends on .................................. resources
and capabilities.

9.3 M-Commerce Applications

The general m-commerce applications are:
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
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.

Example: Tickets can be booked on mobile for airports, ballparks, train stations, etc.

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

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.

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.

Example: Knowing the location of the user allows for location based services such as:

local maps
local offers

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