Mobile Technology: A Comprehensive Overview (CS101)

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report explores mobile technology's impact across various sectors.

Mobile Technology
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Mobile Technology
Mobile technology refers to the technology involving electronic equipment that can be utilized
from anywhere such as mobile phones or portable computers. Such technology is mainly utilized
for the purpose of cellular communications and other areas related to this. Earlier, the mobile
technology was utilized for making phone calls and messaging. Due to the evolution, the usage
of this technology has enhanced to the gaming, GPS navigation, tool for instant messaging, and
internet browsing and so on (Finextra, 2017). The emergence of mobile technology has become a
necessity for the people of urban and rural areas, business, education, and health care and others.
This is due to the fact that this technology is portable and easy to use that provides numerous
facilities. It would not be wrong to say that the history of mobile technology initiated with the
invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in the year 1876. Nowadays, different
types of mobile technology are available for the convenience of people. The different categories
of mobile technology are shown as follows:
(Figure 1: Categories of Mobile Technology)
(Source: By Author, 2019)
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CategoriesofMobileTechnologyPDALaptopsWearableComputersSmartPhonesMobileGamingConsoledTabletsBarcodeReaders/Scanners

Advantages and Disadvantages of Mobile Technology
The major advantage lies in the fact that it has made the lives of people much better and easier. It
has connected the people all over the world by providing ample communication systems and
channels. Majorly, it has assisted in the enhancement of the communication with the people
across the globe. It contributes largely to enhancing efficiency as well as the productivity of
people and processes. A high degree of flexibility and quality as well can be attained with the
adoption of mobile technology in every field whether business, education, and health care
(Arpaci, 2015). It made it easier to accept and make the payments in a wireless manner while
sitting in any corner of the world. It can be seen that network capabilities have been enhanced
with mobile technology.
The disadvantage of mobile technology implies that it involves a huge amount of costs of
purchasing new technologies and its maintenance. The devices of mobile technology can be said
vulnerable to security risks such as viruses and hacking. It requires high-security needs as well as
the training needs for the people operating such technology. Many times, it has been realized that
the mobile technology has become one of the key reasons for the distractions of employees at the
workplace, and students at educational institutions (Sunga, et. al., 2016). It can be said that
making communication easier is a fruit from the mobile technology while it cannot be ignored
that it has disrupted the peace and personal space of people.
Recent Trends in Mobile Technology
Developments in technology have led to an increase in faster internet. The internet speed has
gone from 3G to 4G and 5G is all set to take over the internet of the mobile technology world.
One of the significant trends can be defined as the enhancement of mobile security keeping in
mind the vulnerability of mobile technology to security and privacy risks (Osseiran, et. al.,
2014). The key security features that can be seen in recent times are comprised of facial
recognition, a built-in security chip, restricted AD tracking, and fingerprint scanning and others.
The increasing trend of online shopping has also increased the payment through mobiles across
the world. This has led to the emergence of Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Samsung Pay, and other
payment applications of mobile.
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(Figure 2: Graph showing the increased trend of mobile payment on a global level)
(Source: Statista, 2019)
Augmented reality is majorly utilized in marketing campaigns as well as gaming apps in recent
times. It is forecasted that this trend will get a huge boost up for more practical purposes such as
interior designing, navigation, user manual, object measurement, and other purposes
(Billinghurst, et. al., 2015). The given graph shows that a significant increase in the mobile app
downloads has been reported. These app downloads may be for the purpose of shopping,
payments, gaming, and online booking and so on.
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(Figure 3: Graph showing the enhancement in the mobile app downloads across the world)
(Source: Statista, 2019)
Role of Mobile Technology in Different Fields
Business
The main purpose of adopting mobile technology in business states to bring customers more
connected and closer. Business utilizes this technology in numerous ways such as direct
messaging regarding current and coming deals and offers as well as payment using mobile
wallets. Businesses also use mobile technology for the growth and expansion purpose on an
international level using tools named Google Drive, Slack, and PayPal and so on. Mobile
technology plays a significant role in better communication within and outside the workplace;
and providing flexibility to employees (Bar, et. al., 2016). It has marked its print in almost every
business aspect involving manufacturing, data storage, security, supply chain, and
communication. Marketing through mobile technology can be seen as a recent trend in business.
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Education
It has been realized that the adoption of mobile technology in education has been rapidly
increasing. Online forums have facilitated students to maintain a connection with fellow students
as well as the teachers even by sitting in any corner of the world. Teachers can utilize different
apps available for the purpose of live polling in order to assess the knowledge level of all the
students in a classroom environment. Quick Responses are adopted by lecturers, in which the
links to complex diagrams, tasks solutions, educational resources, and relevant images are shared
with students through coding (Ally, & Prieto-Blázquez, 2014). Audio recording for feedback
purpose and video projects and other ways are utilized with an objective of motivated learning.
Healthcare Industry
The development of telemedicine is shaping the future of healthcare by facilitating an easy
connection between physicians and patients through video conferencing. Mobile computing cart
is utilized for providing physicians and nurses with the facility to obtain the patient’s electronic
health records directly. With the wearable devices, physicians can now track the patient’s
conditions using remote monitoring and the patient is not required staying for long in hospitals
(Lurie, 2018). This has reduced the costs for the hospitals and patients as well. Mobile
technology has emerged in every industry such as finance, banking, travel and tourism, retailing,
and communication and so on.
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References
1. Ally, M., & Prieto-Blázquez, J. (2014). What is the future of mobile learning in
education?. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 11(1),
142-151.
2. Arpaci, I. (2015). A comparative study of the effects of cultural differences on the
adoption of mobile learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(4), 699-712.
3. Bar, F., Weber, M. S., & Pisani, F. (2016). Mobile technology appropriation in a distant
mirror: Baroquization, creolization, and cannibalism. New Media & Society, 18(4), 617-
636.
4. Billinghurst, M., Clark, A., & Lee, G. (2015). A survey of augmented reality.
Foundations and Trends® in Human–Computer Interaction, 8(2-3), 73-272.
5. Finextra, (2017). Mobile Technology, Its Importance, Present, And Future Trends.
[Online] Finextra. Available at: https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14000/mobile-
technology-its-importance-present-and-future-trends [Accessed on 8th January 2019]
6. Lurie, A., (2018). How Mobile Technology Is Changing The Healthcare Industry.
[Online] Healthitoutcomes. Available at: https://www.healthitoutcomes.com/doc/how-
mobile-technology-is-changing-the-healthcare-industry-0001 [Accessed on 8th January
2019]
7. Osseiran, A., Boccardi, F., Braun, V., Kusume, K., Marsch, P., Maternia, M., & Tullberg,
H. (2014). Scenarios for 5G mobile and wireless communications: the vision of the
METIS project. IEEE Communications Magazine, 52(5), 26-35.
8. Statista, (2019). Number of mobile app downloads worldwide in 2017, 2018 and 2022 (in
billions). [Online] Statista. Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/271644/worldwide-free-and-paid-mobile-app-store-
downloads/ [Accessed on 8th January 2019]
9. Statista, (2019). Total revenue of global mobile payment market from 2015 to 2019 (in
billion U.S. dollars). [Online] Statista. Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/226530/mobile-payment-transaction-volume-forecast/
[Accessed on 8th January 2019]
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10. Sunga, Y. T., Chang K. E., and Liu, T. J., (2016). The effects of integrating mobile
devices with teaching and learning on students' learning performance: A meta-analysis
and research synthesis. Computers & Education, 94, 252-275.
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