Mobile Applications and E-Commerce

This assignment delves into the role of mobile applications in the realm of e-commerce. It examines various aspects, including the impact of mobile apps on online shopping convenience, consumer perceptions of security within these platforms, and the emerging trends in mobile cloud computing for e-commerce applications. Students are expected to analyze relevant research papers and literature to understand the current state and future potential of mobile apps in shaping the e-commerce landscape.

Running head: OPPORTUNITIES IN MAKING BUSINESS THROUGH MOBILE
COMPUTING
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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OPPORTUNITIES IN MAKING BUSINESS THROUGH MOBILE COMPUTING
Table of Contents
Literature Review............................................................................................................................2
Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
Mobile Hardware.........................................................................................................................2
Mobile software...........................................................................................................................3
Transportation..............................................................................................................................3
Internet access..............................................................................................................................3
Phone Security.............................................................................................................................4
Online Shopping and E-commerce..............................................................................................4
Credit card Payments...................................................................................................................5
Online payment............................................................................................................................5
Online Hotel Booking..................................................................................................................6
Online Ticketing..........................................................................................................................6
Communication............................................................................................................................6
Food delivery system...................................................................................................................7
Advantages of Mobile computing...............................................................................................7
Disadvantages of Mobile computing...........................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Literature Review
Introduction
Mobile computing is the modern technological application through which the data, voice
and video is transmitted through computer or any other wireless device, which do not need any
fixed link. The concepts of mobile computing are:
Mobile communication- The infrastructure that is placed for mobile communication that
is carried out without any hurdle is known as mobile communication. Several devices are
included like the protocols, services, bandwidth and the portals that are required for supporting
the services. The format of the data is also discussed, this makes sure that it does not collide with
other systems present that provide similar service. The media is not guided properly the
overlaying infrastructure is primarily radio wave- based, which means that signals are taken over
the air to the required destination or to the device that can receive or send same kinds of signals
(Meeker 2015).
Mobile Hardware
The hardware of the mobile consists of elements that are capable of receiving and
accessing the mobility service. The range from portable laptops, smartphones, tablets PC’s,
Personal Digital Assistants. This device consist of receptors that sense and receives signals. The
configuration of the devices is done in a way that they can operate in complete duplex, where the
receptors can send and receive signals simultaneously. There is no requirement for waiting for
one device to finish communication, so that the other device can start the communication (Gikas
and Grant 2013).

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OPPORTUNITIES IN MAKING BUSINESS THROUGH MOBILE COMPUTING
Mobile software
It is a program that operates on mobile hardware. It handles the characteristics and
requirements of the mobile application. This can be referred as the main element or the engine of
the mobile device. It can be said that it is the operating system of the appliance, it is the main
element that operates on mobile device. Portability is the main factor in this type of computing, it
makes sure that the users do not tie or pin to any particular location, rather they can be operated
from any location. It involves all the aspects of wireless communications (Gikas and Grant
2013).
Many mobile computing startups get funded by investors almost every month. All around
the world new entrepreneurs are coding striving to make a big invention in this area (Dinh et al.
2013).
The various opportunities in this area are:
Transportation
Now a days there are car rental services are available online, the cars have hot-pink furry
mustaches that signals that the cars are for hire. Any of the car owners can become a driver and
fares for the commuters who use the various car rental online apps. This business is very
beneficial and one can earn 20 percent of the earning from each ride, Zimride is an example for
this type of business. Zimride, Uber and SideCar use smartphones that compete with the taxi
industries. Companies that have mobile apps have a great advantage in numerical terms (Gikas
and Grant 2013).

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OPPORTUNITIES IN MAKING BUSINESS THROUGH MOBILE COMPUTING
Internet access
In the underdeveloped countries people still use feature phones which have prepaid
minutes. People are shifting to the smart phones but the data plan is too expensive for the people
to have an internet access. According to Blaast, a startup of Helsinki, Finland, the only way to
target these markets is to shrink the different apps used by people and make operational over
older, slower wireless networks. Blaast specializes in compressing the caches streamlined
version of the different apps like Facebook, Twitter, which provides accessibility to a package of
applications for 5 to 10 percent a day (Shaikh, Hanafizadeh and Karjaluoto 2017).
Tagstand is a San Fransisco based startup, that is popular for selling cheap near field
communication (NFC) tags used for sticking and communicating information or commands over
short distances, to any other phone that also has a NFC chip. There are switch on alarm, switch
off alarm, silent tags that are used for using the desired feature without even accessing the phone,
it can be done just by sticking to the required tags. In theatres this types of tags can be used to
put the mobile phones on the Silent mode (Gikas and Grant 2013).
Phone Security
With the advancement of the technology the hackers are also becoming smart day by day,
they keenly follow the various developments in the area of technology. One such security app is
Lookout which is used by more than 30 million people. It is an software for android that can be
downloaded for free it scans malware and gives backup to smart phone contacts. The features of
this app involves, signal flare, which helps in finding or locating a missing phone by logging its
location in battery is dying mode and locking the camera, this will without any sound take the
photo of anyone who is trying to unlock the phone and fails three times (Shaikh, Hanafizadeh
and Karjaluoto 2017).

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OPPORTUNITIES IN MAKING BUSINESS THROUGH MOBILE COMPUTING
Online Shopping and E-commerce
One of the most blessed area through the mobile computing is the E-commerce sector,
now shopping has mostly gone digital as because due to scarcity of time prefer to buy clothes,
electronics, packaged food and even groceries and vegetables online. The customers will have to
down the app of various shopping portals like ebay and Amazon and buy anything they want
ranging from books, clothes, accessories to groceries, some portals do not charge the shipping
cost and some of the portals they charge the shipping cost (Jiang, Yang and Jun 2013). The
products that people buy online can are available at cheaper rates which makes it very favorable
for the customers to choose these online portals for shopping and buying all the necessary goods
(Laudon and Traver 2013).
Credit card Payments
Another application of mobile computing can be seen in the area of credit card payments,
various apps have been developed so that the online payment can be done. The smartphones and
the tablets have brought changes in the way people used to make payments. A startup in this area
is Braintree, which is made for the processing of the credit card payments, this is used by the
high profile merchants. Brainee has alos launched Venmo Touch, it is an app that will allow any
other app to process the payment with the help of “one touch”, if the credit card information of a
person is already registered. This feature is available in other popular apps like, the last-minute
hotel booker HotelTonight and TaskRabbit (Gerpott and Thomas 2014).
Online payment
Apart from the credit card payment facilities, there are several applications that help the
users to make the payment online, for which credit card is not required but the payment can be
done through the debit cards as well. Paytm is one such app that is used for making online

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OPPORTUNITIES IN MAKING BUSINESS THROUGH MOBILE COMPUTING
payments, many hotels, restaurants and retail stores accept the Paytm payment where people
have to register to the app and fund can be transferred from one user to another registered users.
They will have to give some details about the card and the amount will be debited from their
account, this app is completely secure and is being used by many people (Shaikh, Hanafizadeh
and Karjaluoto 2017).
Online Hotel Booking
Oyo Hotels is one such app that reduces the effort of the travelers in searching hotels,
with the help of the app the travelers can search for hotels of their desired category in their
desired locations. They can book rooms in the hotel and save their time and energy by manually
searching for hotels (Wang et al. 2016).
Online Ticketing
Online ticketing is another luxury that people has been blessed with since the
advancement of technology, people can now book their train, bus or air tickets online based on
the availability of the tickets. Having apps installed in their phones and tablets they can easily
book tickets from anywhere (Suki and Suki 2017).
Communication
It has really become easier for business to carry out the various marketing and
communication activities. The products and campaigns of the different brands are now easily
promoted in very less expenditure. Since people mostly have smart phones they can easily check
the promotional activities of the different brands and participate. Communication has become
very easy, in social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagrams, products are
being promoted, since people have smart phones which have all these app installed, people check

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OPPORTUNITIES IN MAKING BUSINESS THROUGH MOBILE COMPUTING
the updates and feedback is immediately given by them. This particular advantage of mobile
computing has really worked in the favor of the companies (Raj, Francesco and Das 2012).
Food delivery system
Another business through mobile computing that is gaining popularity is the food
delivery apps. Apps like Swiggy and food Panda are being used widely for getting food
delivered. Users are required to download the app and register, those who want to order food
from any of their favorite restaurants, they can, their food will be delivered by the different
service providers in this area, provided that the restaurant should have a partnership with any of
this companies. People will not have to download the app and the food will be delivered
(Coughlin et al. 2015).
Advantages of Mobile computing
An advantage of Mobile Computing Mobile computing has made its very easy for the
users to work from anywhere if proper connection is available to them. It is not necessary that
the user will have to to be in any fixed position. The mobility makes sure that it is capable for
performing a variety of tasks at the same time (Khan 2013). It saves a lot of time, because one
does not need to travel to any other locations for their various works to be done. File transfer and
sharing has become easier and people can transfer their files through the secure channel and do
their tasks as if they were on their own computers. It has improvised the telecommunication in
many companies. Unnecessary costs and expenses (Dinh et al. 2013). The apps ensures
productivity because the users can easily work from any location they desire. Mobile computing
has made research easier, people earlier used to go the the field for conducting the research but
now the scenario has changed as they can do the research work in their mobile phones. Another
major advantage is that video and audio files can be easily downloaded and shared to any

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preferred location. People now have access to a wide range of movies, music, informational,
educational and news programs from the various apps that are available in their mobile phones
either pre installed or they can buy from any of the online stores. Various process of business can
be availed very easily with the help of secure connections. As far as security is concerned
sufficient measures are taken to ensure there is complete security and privacy is maintained.
Many confidential messages are transferred online therefore; the safety security of the data is to
be maintained. Communication has improved since the technological revolution has been
carried out, with the help of video conferencing and voice conferencing, meetings, seminars and
webinars are conducted these days. The expenditure on travel has reduced for attending the
meetings and conferences (Hu et al. 2015).
Disadvantages of Mobile computing
There are certain disadvantages of mobile computing, one such is that since there is a he
scope for business through mobile computing, many startups are launched in the market almost
every day, this raises concern to a great extent about the security, information are transferred
because people find these apps convenient but there are chances of mismanagement of the
information. Another disadvantage is that all these app require a secure and efficient internet
connection, then only the process can be carried out smoothly or else there are very less chances
that the work for which these apps are designed (Murdoch and Anderson 2014). Network can
often become main constrains of this applications. Another disadvantage is that the with the
advanced technology, people who carry out the cyber crimes, the cyber bullies are also becoming
very smart day by day (Meeker 2015). They have been finding out ways to disrupt the secure
network somehow and carry out the various cyber crimes. This has been acting as one of the
major disadvantages of the mobile computing, which has made this business a little insecure, and

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the trust of the customers in such is very difficult to be gained. The payment apps if not secure
poses a great threat to the user’s bank account (Alizadeh and Hassan 2013).

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References
Alizadeh, M. and Hassan, W.H., 2013, July. Challenges and opportunities of mobile cloud
computing. In Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC), 2013 9th
International (pp. 660-666). ieee.
Coughlin, S.S., Whitehead, M., Sheats, J.Q., Mastromonico, J., Hardy, D. and Smith, S.A., 2015.
Smartphone applications for promoting healthy diet and nutrition: a literature review. Jacobs
journal of food and nutrition, 2(3), p.021.
Dinh, H.T., Lee, C., Niyato, D. and Wang, P., 2013. A survey of mobile cloud computing:
architecture, applications, and approaches. Wireless communications and mobile
computing, 13(18), pp.1587-1611.
Gerpott, T.J. and Thomas, S., 2014. Empirical research on mobile Internet usage: A meta-
analysis of the literature. Telecommunications Policy, 38(3), pp.291-310.
Gikas, J. and Grant, M.M., 2013. Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student
perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media. The Internet and Higher
Education, 19, pp.18-26.
Hu, Y.C., Patel, M., Sabella, D., Sprecher, N. and Young, V., 2015. Mobile edge computing—A
key technology towards 5G. ETSI White Paper, 11(11), pp.1-16.
Jiang, L., Yang, Z. and Jun, M., 2013. Measuring consumer perceptions of online shopping
convenience. Journal of Service Management, 24(2), pp.191-214.

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OPPORTUNITIES IN MAKING BUSINESS THROUGH MOBILE COMPUTING
Khan, A.N., Kiah, M.M., Khan, S.U. and Madani, S.A., 2013. Towards secure mobile cloud
computing: A survey. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29(5), pp.1278-1299.
Laudon, K.C. and Traver, C.G., 2013. E-commerce. Pearson.
Meeker, M., 2015. Internet trends 2015-code conference. Glokalde, 1(3).
Murdoch, S.J. and Anderson, R., 2014, March. Security protocols and evidence: Where many
payment systems fail. In International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data
Security (pp. 21-32). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Raj, M., Di Francesco, M. and Das, S.K., 2012. Secure Mobile Cloud Computing. Handbook on
Securing Cyber-Physical Critical Infrastructure, pp.411-429.
Shaikh, A.A., Hanafizadeh, P. and Karjaluoto, H., 2017. Mobile Banking and Payment System:
A Conceptual Standpoint. International Journal of E-Business Research (IJEBR), 13(2), pp.14-
27.
Suki, N.M. and Suki, N.M., 2017. Flight ticket booking app on mobile devices: Examining the
determinants of individual intention to use. Journal of Air Transport Management, 62, pp.146-
154.
Wang, D., Xiang, Z., Law, R. and Ki, T.P., 2016. Assessing hotel-related smartphone apps using
online reviews. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 25(3), pp.291-313.