Chapter Seven: Mobile Computing and Mobile Commerce

Question One: Identify common wireless devices and their application to business

Common wireless devices include the following:

• Pagers
• Email handhelds
• Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
• Mobile phones
• Smart phones

Wireless technologies are fundamentally changing the ways organisations operate and do business. These devices allow quick and easy access to interact with different businesses. They make productive use of time that is otherwise wasted, makes users work locations flexible and enables users to allocate working time around their personal and professional obligations.

Question Two: Describe the various types and general characteristics of wireless transmission media/technologies - microwave, satellite, infrared and radio waves.

Microwave- is used for high volume, long distance, line of sight communication (the transmitter and the receiver must be in view from each other-this means that they are not able to be more than 30 miles apart).

Satellite- uses communication satellites. There also needs to be a line of sight but there earth larges surface area means there are little limitations in satellite transmissions. There are three types of satellites: geostationary (GEO), medium earth orbit (MEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) around the earth, global positioning system (GPS) and Internet over satellite (IOS).

Radio waves- uses radio-wave frequencies to send data directly between transmitter and receiver. This has a high bandwidth, the signals are sent and passed through normal office walls, it is inexpensive and is easy to install.

Infrared light- red light that is not commonly visible to human eyes. It has a low to medium bandwidth, and is only used for short distances. There must also be an unobstructed line of sight. Examples include remote control units for televisions, VCRs, DVDs and CD players.

Below is a diagram of some of the types of satellites used:

Question Three: What is bluetooth/how is it used?

Bluetooth is an industry specification used to create small personal networks. A personal area network is a computer network used for communication close to one person. Bluetooth can link up to eight devices within a 10 meter area using low power, radio based communication, transmitting up to 2.1 megabits per second. Common applications for bluetooth are wireless handsets for mobile phones, laptops and portable music players. The advantages of bluetooth includes its low power consumption and its use of omnidirectional radio waves.

Question Four: What are WLAN's, Wi-Fi, WWAN's, 3G?

WLANs are wireless local area networks that uses wireless transmission for communication. Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is a set of standards for wireless local networks based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. It is basically a wired LAN but without the cables. Wireless wide area network (WWAN) connects users to the Internet over geographically dispersed territory. They use portions of the wireless spectrum that are regulated by the government. In contrast, bluetooth and Wi-Fi operate over an unlicensed spectrum and are therefore prone to interference and security problems. Third Generation (3G) uses digital signals and can transmit voice and data. It supports video, web browsing and instant messaging.

Question Five: What are the drivers of mobile computing and mobile commerce?

Mobile computing is real- time, wireless connection between a mobile device and other computing environments, such as Internet or an intranet. Mobile commerce is electronic commerce transactions that are conducted in a wireless environment especially via the Internet.

The drivers of mobile computing and mobile commerce are the following:

• Widespread availability of mobile devices
• No need for a PC
• The mobile phone culture
• Declining prices
• Bandwidth improvement

Question Six: Explain the nature of RFID

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is the term used for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify the location of individual items equipped with tags that contain embedded microchips. They are heavily used in Inventory tracking, they will eventually replace barcodes. Examples of RFID include:

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• Passports – that instantly transmit data to a national security database about the time, date, place of people entering & leaving the country.
• Transportation – think eTag, passive reader that sends toll charges to your account
• Travel – in Mumbai 3.5 million people use the train stations, RFID’s have automated the ticketing process
• Social Retailing – RFID, consumer tries on a garment, the RFID tells the LCD in the change room to show the garment being worn by a celebrity

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