Turban- 3e
Instructor’s Manual
Chapter 8
Mobile Computing and Commerce
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to:
1. Discuss the value-added attributes, benefits, and fundamental drivers of m-commerce.
3. Describe the four major types of wireless telecommunications networks.
5. Describe m-commerce applications in shopping, advertising, and provision of content.
7. Describe consumer and personal applications of m-commerce.
9. Describe the major inhibitors and barriers of m-commerce.
Content
Opening Case: The Blooming of Food Lion
8.1 Mobile Commerce: Attributes, Benefits, and Drivers
8.3 Mobile Financial Applications
8.5 Mobile Workforce Solutions
8.7 Location-Based Mobile Commerce
8.8 Security and Other Implementation Issues in Mobile Commerce
Managerial Issues
Closing Case: Wal-Mart Turns to Mobile for Weather Alerts
Supplementary Videos for this Chapter
1. The Future of M-Commerce – Did you know 4.0 (4:30 min)
M-Commerce is gaining importance and will play a major role in EC implementation.
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3. Mobile Banking – A new way to bank (3 min)
Using a mobile device one can perform many bank transactions anytime and from
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Answers to Pause/Break Section Review Questions
Section 8.1 Review Questions
1. Briefly describe the five value-added attributes of m-commerce.
In the traditional computing environment, users require a desktop computer and
networked computers are connected to each other, to networks, to servers, and to
2. List and briefly describe eight major drivers of m-commerce.
These are described on pages 297-8.
Section 8.2 Review Questions
1. Briefly describe some of the key differences and similarities among the major mobile
devices.
2. Why is it difficult to develop software and services for mobile devices?
3. Briefly describe the types of messaging services offered for mobile devices.
• Short Message Service (SMS) is a service that supports the transmittal of short text
4. What are the distinguishing features of PANs, WLANs, WiMax, and WWANs?
A PAN (personal area network) is a wireless telecommunications network for device-
to-device connections within a very short range.
5. Define 3G. Why is it important for the adoption of mobile applications and services?
Section 8.3 Review Questions
1. Describe some of the services provided by mobile banking.
Customers can use their mobile handsets to access account balances, pay bills, and
2. Discuss proximity-based wireless payments. How have they been used in the
transportation arena?
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3. What are the basic processes used in handling mobile remote payments?
Section 8.4 Review Questions
1. How are traditional media and mobile marketing campaigns alike?
2. What type of campaign was recently used by Dolce & Gabanna (D&G)? What were
the underlying goals of the campaign?
3. Summarize the basic principles in the Global Code of Conduct from the Mobile
Marketing Association.
Section 8.5 Review Questions
1. Describe the major segments of the mobile workforce. How quickly is this workforce
growing?
2. What are some of the common benefits of mobile SFA, FFA, and CRM?
3. What are some of the challenges that companies incur when they try to implement
solutions for the mobile workforces?
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Section 8.6 Review Questions
1. Briefly describe the growth patterns of the various segments of mobile entertainment.
2. Discuss the basic components of the mobile music market.
3. What are some of the key barriers to the growth of the mobile games market?
4. Discuss some of the key legal issues impeding the growth of mobile gambling.
Section 8.7 Review Questions
1. Describe the key elements of the l-commerce infrastructure.
2. What is GPS? How does it work?
3. What are some of the basic questions addressed by location-based services?
4. How are location-based services being integrated with social networking?
5. What are some of the key barriers to l-commerce?
Section 8.8 Review Questions
1. How is m-commerce security similar to e-commerce security? How is it different?
2. Discuss the role that usability plays in the adoption of m-commerce.
3. Discuss a few of the technical limitations of m-commerce.
4. Describe the potential impact of mobile devices on the workplace.
Answers to EC Application Case Questions
EC Application Case 8.1 – CLOSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE WITH MOBILE
MICROFINANCE
1. What is microfinance?
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2. What problem is Grameen Koota trying to solve by adopting mobile loans and
payments?
3. How will mobile loans and payments work for organizations like Grameen Koota?
Answers to Individual Discussion Questions
1. Discuss how m-commerce can expand the reach of EC.
2. Which of the m-commerce limitations listed in this chapter do you think will have the
biggest near-term negative impact on the growth of m-commence? Which one will be
minimized within 5 years? Which ones will not?
Student opinions will vary.
3. Describe the ways in which Wi-Fi is affecting the use of cell phones for m-commerce.
4. WiMax, municipal Wi-Fi, and WWAN are all used to provide wide area access to the
Internet. Which of these technologies is likely to survive into the future? Why or why not?
5. Discuss the factors that are critical to the overall growth of mobile banking and mobile
payments.
6. Suppose you worked for a fashion retailer and were in charge of a new mobile
advertising campaign designed to generate sales for a new clothing line. Describe the
basic elements of your campaign and guidelines you would use to conduct it.
7. What is the relationship between mobile sales force automation, mobile field force
automation, and mobile CRM?
8. Why are many of the more popular mobile gambling sites located on small island
countries?
9. How are GPS and GIS related?
10. Location-based services can help a driver find his or her car or the closest gas
station. However, some people view location-based services as an invasion of privacy.
Discuss the pros and cons of location-based services.
Answers to Class Discussion Questions
1. Discuss how m-commerce can solve some of the problems of the digital divide (the
gap within a country or between countries with respect to people’s ability to access the
Internet).
2. Discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks of conducting m-commerce on social
networks.
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Internet Exercises
(Note: URLs may change over time; please check the Internet Exercises on the
1. Learn about smartphones by visiting vendors’ sites such as Nokia, RIM, Apple,
Motorola, and others. List the capabilities the various devices from these vendors offer
for supporting m-commerce. In the future, what sort of new capabilities will be provided
by smartphones?
Student responses will vary.
2. Research the status of 3G and the future of 4G by visiting 3gnewsroom.com (you can
find information on 4G by searching for the term at the site). Prepare a report on the
status of 3G and 4G based on your findings.
Student answers will vary based on when the report is made.
3. You’ve been asked to put together a directory of Wi-Fi hotspots in your local area.
There are a number of sites, such as hotspot-locations.com, that offer search capabilities
for finding hotspots in a given area. Construct a list of sites that offer this feature. Using
these sites, create a directory for your area. Knowing what you do about the Wi-Fi sites
in your area, which of the sites seems to produce the best list?
Student answers will vary.
4. Download the white paper on location intelligence at pbinsight.com/files/resource-
library/resourcefiles/BusinessObj_WP.pdf. Based on the white paper, discuss the role
that location intelligence plays in retail, financial applications, insurance, government,
and communications.
5. Most of the major social networking sites provide mobile capabilities. The same is true
for newer startups like Loopt and GyPSii. Compare and contrast the types of social
networking capabilities provided by the major sites and the start-ups.
Student responses will vary.
6. Juniper Research has created a variety of white papers dealing with different segments
of the mobile entertainment market (e.g., mobile games). Go to
juniperresearch.com/index.php and download a white paper dealing with one of these
segments. Use the white paper to develop a written summary of the market segment you
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selected—the size of the market, the major vendors, the factors encouraging and
impeding its growth, and the future of the market segment.
Student responses will vary.
7. Enter gpshopper.com. What sorts of products and services do they provide? One of
their products is Slifter. Go to slifter.com and run the demo. Enter nearbynow.com.
Compare the products and services they provide with those offered by GPShopper.
8. Find information about Google Maps for mobile devices. Also, review the capabilities
of Google SMS and other Google applications. Write a report on your findings.
Student responses will vary.
9. Provide a general description of the EPC identification standard. What role do
EPCGlobal (epcglobalinc.org) and the Auto-ID Labs (autoidlabs.org) play in this
standard? EPCGlobal has developed a set of policies for the use of EPCs. What are these
policies and how are they enforced?
Student responses will vary.
Team Assignments and Role Playing
1. Each team should examine a major vendor of mobile devices (Nokia, Kyocera,
Motorola, Palm, BlackBerry, etc.). Each team will research the capabilities and prices of
the devices offered by each company and then make a class presentation, the objective of
which is to convince the rest of the class why one should buy that company’s products.
Student reports will vary.
2. Each team should explore the commercial applications of m-commerce in one of the
following areas: Financial services, including banking, stocks, and insurance; marketing
and advertising; manufacturing; travel and transportation; human resources
management; public services; and health care. Each team will present a report to the
class based on their findings. (Start at mobiforum.org.)
Student reports will vary.
3. Each team should take one of the following areas–homes, cars, appliances, or other
consumer goods such as clothing–and investigate how embedded microprocessors are
currently being used and will be used in the future to support consumer-centric services.
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Each team will present a report to the class based on their findings.
Student reports will vary.
Closing Case: WAL-MART TURNS TO MOBILE FOR WEATHER
ALERTS
1. Why was Wal-Mart interested in instituting an automated weather alert system?
2. How does the Smart Notification Weather Service work? Why is it more precise,
accurate, and relevant than the NWS tracking system?
3. What are the benefits of the Smart Notification Weather Service for Wal-Mart?