M-commerce Components
1.6.2 M-commerce Components
The development of mobile network and wireless data communications technology have laid a solid foundation for m-commerce. Presently, technologies of m-commerce spring up in multitude, which consists of:
(1) The wireless application protocol (WAP) WAP, one of the core technologies in m-commerce, enables mobile users to
enter into Internet anytime and anywhere, making m-commerce free from the limits of time and places completely. The presence and development of WAP, a communication protocol, is based on the need of Mobile. WAP, borrowing ideas from Internet, enables people to surf the net by adopting standard data format to express application programs and network contents and microbrowser, similar to PC browsers and standard communication patterns. By means of WAP, users can easily have access to and obtain all kinds of services and information of universal format in International network and enterprise interior network, for WAP supplies an open and universal technological platform. People can send and receive e-mails or even surf the net with mobile phones just like PC, if they have website server and such mobile equipments with a set of hardware and software interfaces defined by WAP. At the same time, WAP provides an application development and operating ambient supporting, presently the most popular embedded operating systems such as PalmOS, WindowsCE, FLEXO, JavaOS etc. WAP can favor the overwhelming majority wireless device used currently, including mobile phones, FLEX pagers, two-way radio communication equipment etc. In transport network, WAP favors not only the current mobile networks such as GSM, CDMA and PHS but also the future third generation communication system. Moreover, investment risk can be decreased by means of WAP. Presently, many common carriers have introduced diverse WAP products, including WAP gateway, application development tools and WAP phones to supply clients online information, games, and shopping etc. For the moment, the primary disadvantage of WAP lies in that it relies on, to a large extent, the bandwidth of wireless communication line. As to GSM, the data transmission velocity of short message is limited to 9.6 kbps.
(2) Mobile IP technology Mobile IP carries out the seamless roaming by transforming IP agreement in
the network layer. The mobile main frame recognizes its location by intercepting and capturing the message from broadcast of native agency and out-of-town agencies. When connected with native links, the mobile phone can function as a fixed one. If connected with out-of-town links, it can get its onward transmission address from hometown register. Then the hometown register will transmit data
Introduction to E-commerce
packet to the mobile host according to the onward transmission address registered by mobile host. Thanks to mobile IP technology, it is unnecessary to change IP address and interrupt the ongoing communication when is transmitted from one link to another. Though mobile IP, to a certain extent, has supported the application of m-commerce, it presently faces the following problems: mobile IP triangle routes, the smooth switching among out-of-town agencies when mobile host is out of hometown, security and power consumption of mobile host.
(3) Bluetooth technology (Bluetooth) The Bluetooth, a short-distance radio technology standard released by Ericsson,
IBM, Nokia, Intel and Toshiba, aims at canceling the wired connectivity, carry out wireless interconnection in order to guarantee the communication between computers and communication equipments. Bluetooth, a kind of low cost, power and small range wireless communication technology can make mobile phones, PC, personal digital assistants (PDA), laptops, printers and other computer equipments to communicate within short distance without cable. For instance, the key technology to carry out the wireless e-wallet is to make the payment in vending machine by mobile phones. In Bluetooth technology the combination of circuit switching and information packet switching is realized by 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band, frequency modulation, and frequency modulation technology, forward error correction edit, ARQ, TDD, and baseband protocol. The blue tooth favors the 64 kb/s real time voice transmission and data transmission with the transmission distance of 10
(4) General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) In traditional GSM, users can transmit data at the highest speed of 9.6 kbps by
Fax, e-mail, FTP etc. This can merely meet the requirement of text and static image but sound and video. GPRS breaks through the prototype in GSM that network can merely favor circuit switching and introduces the packet switching pattern into GSM. It implements packet switching by increasing corresponding functions and transforming the existing base system to improve the utility of resources. The GPRS radical principle is to make several consumers share the certain fixed signal path resources and improve the transmission rate in each time slot from 9.6 kb/s to 14.4 kb/s. If 8 time slots within the frame of TDMA are all used to transport data, the transmission speed can reach up to 164 kb/s. The GPRS is mainly for paroxysmal data service and suitable for the frequent small-amount transmission and infrequent large-amount transmission. GPRS can provide the following bearer services: point-to-point non-linked network service, point-to-point connected-oriented business and other business.
(5) Mobile Positioning System (MPS) One of the main applications of m-commerce is to provide tourists and
employees on business the information of local news, tourism, weather and hotel etc. in terms of their location. This technology will bring enormous business opportunities to the native tourism, business and restaurants.
1 Fundamentals of E-commerce
(6) The third generation mobile (3 G) From 2.5 G to 3 G, the wireless communication product will favor multimedia
service of 2 Mbps bandwidth, voice of high quality, data grouping, multimedia service and the multi-user velocity communications, which will thoroughly transform people’s communication and life style. 3 G, as the broad-band communication, will be the future communication terminal aggregating the applications of voice, image, data transmission etc. This will further facilitate the overall m-commerce development. The real-time video, RTV broadcast, for instance.