Newsletter #88 M-Commerce Goes Ballistic

Created on 01/06/04

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This issue is a rather momentous one for NetInsites - five years ago on 31st May, 1999 we produced our first newsletter "Newsletter #1 How to Choose a Great Web Address". In our newsletters our primary goal has always been to provide, not just information but practical ways that you can use new technologies. To celebrate this dogged persistence and continue this practical theme I'm going to be available to answer, for free, any Internet-related queries you may have either:

• By email - just reply to this email. Or
• By Instant Messaging - if you use Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger just search for me at this email address gardena@ihug.co.nz

The last newsletter (29th April, 2004) was "The Deep Web"

We didn't like the definitions of m-commerce we found so we created our own: "m-commerce allows you to use wireless devices to buy and sell products and services." These devices can include cell phones, PDAs and of course mobile computers tethered by wireless connections.

The focus when m-commerce is discussed is normally on the smaller devices such as cell phones and PDAs. This is probably fair as it is the ubiquity and mobility of these devices that is changing the way that we interact and conduct business.

Despite all the hype only one in 10 of all cell phone users made purchases online last year according to Telecom Trends International. However the installed base of these devices is so huge that the network effect will serve to accelerate m-commerce via cell phones over the next decade.

According to analysts, the worldwide number of active PCs is between 500 million and 750 million whereas cellular phone users number approximately 1.3 billion and are increasing far more rapidly. In most developed countries there are now more mobiles than there are landlines. For example over 80 percent of Australians will own a mobile phone by the end of this year, according to International Data Corp. As Web-enabled handsets and smartphones move into the mainstream, wireless Internet growth will continue.

Another key point with the smaller devices such as cell phones and PDAs is that people carry them everywhere. This is a major plus for interactive games as well as communication-oriented features. They can entertain, communicate and allow you to work during "lost moments" - time that would otherwise be wasted. Mobile researchers Enpocket expect that "..there will be an uptake of other downloadable applications such as city guides, videos, etc, though games will dominate for the next two years."

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An example of how mobile devices can change the rules can be seen with the installation of cameras within mobiles. The growth of "picture messaging," or MMS has been extremely rapid. InfoTrends Research Group estimate that there will be 300 million digital image capture devices through 2004 and 60% of them will be phones. The picture itself has shifted from being one-dimensional to being a method of communication. Adding millions of instant eyes to the global network also creates problems and challenges. Eg. They're banned from many locker rooms, courtrooms and many public places.

Cell phone carriers have also been good at introducing billing or "wallet"-like features. You can "buy on a click" much easier on your phone than you can on the Internet as the carrier uses its existing billing relationship.

Other new services are constantly being developed, like these:

• A Nevada company is hoping to win the business of gaming operators around the world with a new technology it says could port casino games onto mobile phones.
  
• A new mobile phone service is challenging big Internet search engines by providing exact answers to any question, such as the number of steps of the Empire State building.
  
• Because your cell phone's position can be determined quite accurately by triangulation - look for more geographically based offerings. For example: You walk past a pizza outlet and get offered a special deal. Privacy and spam issues need to considered here of course.

So how can you use the potential of m-commerce?

• Can you offer low-bandwidth versions of information clients might want to download? Eg. Simplified specifications or low-resolution drawings.
  
• Use the immediacy and ubiquity of mobile phones by providing text or voice messages that let customers know "your order is available for pickup" for example, rather than using email or landline phone systems.
  
• Use the advantages of having the extra "eyes" by supplying field staff with picture-capable mobiles. It will save time and explanation if they can show a picture.

As Sean Carton says there is a "...shift away from the tethered-information model we've all become used to and toward what my friend and colleague Dr. Robbie Blinkoff calls "the mobile lifestyle." It's not really about our love of gadgets, but a sense we can access information any time, anywhere."

It's a matter of thinking creatively to exploit this new connectiveness.

Newbies

Power Users

You can opt for PC beep when you press the Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock keys. Useful if you often press them by mistake. To enable this it simply requires selecting "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel" (or, for Windows XP, just "Start", "Control Panel"). Then, open "Accessibility Options" select the Keyboard tab and tick "Use ToggleKeys". But go a step beyond that for visual warnings as well. While in Accessibility Options, select the Sound tab and tick "Use SoundSentry". Click on the Settings button and scroll to "Flash active window". Click out with "OK" and you will have a visual warning as well, not only for all the Lock keys.

For previous tips visit the Power Hot Tips page.

It's quite common for a mirror site (copy of the original) to be put up to spread the load when a Website gets popular. Check out the latest Google mirror. :-) http://www.alltooflat.com/geeky/elgoog/

The Halfbakery is a communal database of original, fictitious inventions and edited by its users. It was created by people who like to speculate, both as a form of satire and as a form of creative expression. For example check out this great idea and discussion about a Panic Pin number. http://www.halfbakery.com/

No new articles this month.

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You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

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Best wishes

Alex Garden

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