Introduction. History of mobile commerce. Advantages of mobile commerce. Disadvantages of mobile commerce. Uses of mobile commerce. Contribution to revenue.

enue. Present scenario of mobile commerce in India. Scope of mobile commerce. Conclusion

Mobile Commerce refers to wireless electronic commerce used for conducting commerce or business through a handy device like cellular phone or Personal Digital Assistant (PDAs). It is also said that it is the next generation wireless e-commerce that needs no wire and plug-in devices. Mobile commerce is usually called as 'mCommerce' in which user can do any sort of transaction including buying and selling of the goods, asking any services, transferring the ownership or rights, transacting and transferring the money by accessing wireless internet service on the mobile handset itself..

Despite of huge popularity of mobile commerce, it is yet in the initial stage and can be further expand in to all the fields, which affect the human life. The assumption of mobile commerce is not so young as it mushroomed so early from adopting this technology. It initially begins with the use of wireless POS (Point Of Sale) swipe terminals and has since then made its way into cellular phones and PDA's (Personal Digital Assistants). The first enabling m-commerce technologies were presented through Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and i-mode mobile Internet service. WAP builds on digital phone technology and first emerged on 2.5 G phone technology that allowed users to browse the Internet. This technology cemented the way of m-commerce, which has strongly developed on 3G-phone technology. Nokia has first introduced m-commerce application software Nokia toolkit version 4.0.

 Features of m-Commerce
Provision for cash deposits and withdrawals. Ability for third parties to make deposits into a user account. Ability to make retail purchase. Over-the-air prepaid top-ups using the cash already in the account. The ability to transfer cash between users account. Provision for bill payments.

M-commerce has several major advantages such as ubiquity, personalization, flexibility, and distribution, mobile commerce promises exceptional business market potential, greater efficiency and higher fruitfulness. Thus it is not surprising that mobile commerce is emerging much faster than its fixed counterpart. M-commerce is more personalized than e-commerce and thus needs a gentle approach to appraise mcommerce applications.

Can create jobs in rural areas Useful to people who use internet once in a while, cant afford to have a computer or monthly internet service. Since customers just need to interact with shopkeeper he will feel more confident and and less alienated Experts help will be easily available and readily available Helps to save & create money eg no need to travel far away to know market prices, recharge, booking,etc Slowly and steadily can creates awarness of IT in rural public

Speed of delivery. Small screen size. Security.

In the current commerce industry, mobile commerce or MCommerce has been entered in finance, services, retails, tele-communication and information technology services. In these sectors, M-Commerce is not only being widely accepted but also it is being more used as a popular way of business/ commerce.

Opportunities and Challenges

Customer perspective Institutional perspective

Customer Perspective
Features:
Needs meet by m-Commerce solutions

Accessibility:
Distribution of transaction points

Affordability:
Transaction costs need to be low

Ease of use:
Easy to use, fast & user friendly

Institutional Perspective:
Fees and Charges:
Need for an appropriate revenue strategy

Efficiency Gains:
Can the institution substantially increase business transactions at lower cost?

Controlling Development Costs:

Need to ensure positive returns on investment

Issues To Be Considered In Establishing an m-Commerce

Issues for a Network Operator. Banking Issues. Market Issues. Competition Issues. Regulatory and Security Issues Competency. Transaction Management Issues. Company Infrastructure

Telecom managed services globally have been growing at a rate of 14 per cent on an yearly basis, with revenues aggregating up to US$ 190 billion, while in India, the growth rate of the telecom managed services is 19 per cent per year with revenues pegged at US$ 8-9 billion as stated by Arpita Pal Agrawal, Executive Director Telecom KPMG at the 3rd International conference organized by Bharat Exhibitions on Managed Services. Companies outside the telecom sector have shown interest in the sector investment and the Pharma company, Piramal Healthcare has decided to buy a 5.5 per cent stake in Vodafone's India unit for Rs 2,856 Crore (US$ 640 million). With this deal, Vodafone has allotted over 26 per cent of the company shares to Indian investors in accordance to the foreign direct investment (FDI) guidelines for the telecom sector.

Increased mobile penetration and use of GPRS on handsets has resulted in the digital downloads market to cross Rs.2.55 Billion by end of March 2008.

Mobile Commerce services are evolving rapidly in India due to the coming together of mobile service providers, banks and payment service providers to offer more products and secure transactions through mobile networks. While e-commerce is limited to PC users only, Mobile Commerce is open to almost everyone with a cell phone and mobile connection. Mobile Commerce is expected to grow because the mobile usage and ownership penetration is more than 4 to 5 times than a PC and growing at a very fast rate. With mobile commerce offerings expanding, customers in India have the hand-held convenience of using their mobile phones for making payments for taxi fares and recharging prepaid phone cards.

The future of m-Commerce seems extremely bright because several experiments are going on to introduce the upgraded version of mobile likely to emerged with the evolution of 4G
mobile technology.

Aim of this presentation was to identify key aspects of currently available m-Commerce systems. for developing economies m-Commerce is beneficial in-particular for

Capturing unofficial cash float in the community eliminating need for people to carry cash in

significant amount reducing the exposure to robbery enabling the advancement of micro-loans to the community facilitating loan repayments enabling payments of utility bills