Enterprise J2ME Developing Mobile Java Applications [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Chapter 1. Mobile Commerce: Visions, Realities, and Opportunities

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Mobile Commerce Value Propositions

Mobile Technology Adoption

The Search for Killer Mobile Applications

Mobile Commerce Revenue Models

Emerging Mobile Commerce Business Models

Moore's law states that computer capabilities double every 18 months. Meanwhile, prices for key computer components drop by halves. When cheap personal computers became powerful enough for most common tasks and graphic user interfaces, they were massively adopted by average home users and enterprises. Together with Internet technology, the personal computer is widely credited as a key enabler of the electronic commerce New Economy revolution of the 1990s.

Ten years later, Moore's law still holds. Today, computer devices are everywhere in our lives. Those small and cheap devices have processing power beyond the high-end PCs of only a few years ago. When coupled with mobile communication devices and the mobile Internet, new-generation pervasive devices empower us to access information anywhere, anytime.

International Data Corporation (IDC) has projected that by year 2007, two-thirds of the U.S. workforce will be mobile workers. We are entering a new era of mobile commerce. The freedom to access information without constraints of landlines and bulky PCs will create great business opportunities and improve our quality of life for years to come. The freedom economy is "what's next."

However, knowing the path is different from walking the path. To seize future mobile commerce opportunities, developers and business managers have to understand the value creation process and have solid business plans. In the first chapter of this book, we study basic concepts of mobile commerce and look at the business cases.