Work and Life in the Mobile Society/Business/Commerce

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) begins by the use of wireless POS (Point Of Sale) swipe terminals. The first m-commerce technologies were through Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and i-mode mobile Internet service. WAP technology paved the way of m-commerce, which has powerfully developed on 3G-phone technology. Nokia was the first to begin m-commerce application with software Nokia toolkit version 4.0.

Mobile commerce is a sort of e-commerce conducted through cellular phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and other devices with a wireless connection. These technologies give opportunities to small businesses to sell new goods and services and to operate more efficiently.

Applications
Mobile Banking: Online banking services through a mobile device. Wireless Electronic Payments: Instantly authorization payments can be made directly from your bank. Micro-payments can replace cash but it has some risk (e.g. fraud). Mobile Wallet: enables cardholder to purchasing from their mobile devices. Wireless Bill Payments: are made directly from a cell phone. Voice and Mobile Portals: gives access to information. Telemedicine: provides clinical care to people who don’t have access to local doctors. Telemetry: transmission and receipt of data from remote sensors.

Benefits

 * Selling products or services: brings buyer and seller together very easily; gives greater profits and it also provides flexibility to conduct business.
 * Improving productivity: SMS (short message service) is very useful for workers to have to operate away from their offices.

Disadvantages
Today many people are using their cell phones for their business as well as personal communication; it is why a secure mobile line is fundamental. Security issue need to be corrected in order to avoid large problems to companies. Millions of dollars could be in jeopardy if the wrong party get access to details of a transaction. Cell phones require a very secure SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) Card which is a portable memory chip used in some models of cell phones. Gemalto, the world leader in digital security conducted a survey; they found that 40% of Americans would purchase more online if security was reinforced, and 49 % would be visit more new merchant websites. People use cell phones more and more because they can work from any location and also because they don’t want to be tied to a computer, this might eliminate the use of a laptop in the near future. Mobile commerce technology is advancing as much as security issue is growing. With no security in doing mobile transactions the financial world could be in a huge chaos. Thieves would have easy access to our personal information or our banking account information. Business transactions and banks won’t be secure anymore; even national security could be in jeopardy. The need of secure mobile lines is paramount. Mobile security is an issue that is needed to be paid attention right now.