M-Business - The Race to Mobility

Authors - Marcia Robinson, Dr Ravi Kalakota
Published by -  McGraw-Hill Trade
Book Summary by -  Vivek Gupta
Faculty Member,ICMR Case Studies and Management Resources

About the Authors

Ravi Kalakota, Ph.D., is the CEO of the research and innovation consulting practice, e-Business Strategies. He has consulted extensively with Fortune 1000 companies including Intel, Sun Microsystems, SAP and AT&T. Dr. Kalakota has held the Xerox Chair in Information systems at the Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester and School of Business, University of Texas at Austin.

Abstract of Book Summary:

The evolution of Internet has brought about a significant change in business processes. From offline to online and now to anytime at anyplace connectivity has radically changed the structure of many business activities. M-Business is offering opportunities for companies to develop value added services for their consumers. The existing mobile infrastructure, new technological developments and increased demand of mobile applications are all indicators of a bright future for mobile business.

BOOK SUMMARY

The evolution of Internet has been in various phases. The earlier phase of the Internet allowed consumers and businesses to conduct e-business while the recent phase is witnessing m-business as well. The basic difference between them is the form of connectivity provided to the users. Users are connected through the wired web in e-business whereas m-business involves wireless web. Let us understand the key components of m-business and see how mobile technology is affecting e-business.

Shift from E to M-Business

The first phase of evolution in the IT industry led to the automation of various business activities. It then led to reengineering of business processes and finally enabled web-based transactions. From automation to enabling e-business, businesses have come a long way and have responded well to the changing environments in the recent years. Technology has played an important role in determining the future business plans of organizations and at the same time increased customer expectations as well.

The rising customer expectations were partly satisfied by the proliferation of new technologies primarily the wireless technologies that included the wireless Internet, innovative wireless devices and location technologies. Companies started using wireless technologies in their existing e-business model. They offered their existing Internet services with a value added mobility feature. The wireless technologies also helped in the better management of business processes. This combination of Internet, e-business and wireless technologies gave birth to mobile business.

However, few companies made an initiative to develop a business model or venture into a business area based on mobile applications. Following are the business areas opened up by m-business:

Network Infrastructure: In this sector, companies will be responsible for providing the essential network infrastructure for mobile business. This includes hardware fiber networks, wireless communication towers and satellite networks. The revenue model of the companies in this sector will be based on hardware sales or leasing the developed mobile infrastructure to telecom companies.

Access: This sector will be responsible for providing Internet access to wireless devices. The revenues of these companies are based on the fees they charge for providing Internet access to wireless devices.

Content: This sector will be responsible for developing and providing content for the wireless devices. The revenues under this segment will come from advertising and subscription fee. Some examples of companies under this category are Yahoo, Infospace and 13Mobile.

Commerce: In this sector, companies will be conducting their business over mobile devices. The business model can be business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) category. Examples of companies under this category are Amazon and eBay.

Software: In this sector, companies will be providing essential software to run entire applications on a mobile platform. Software include operating software, application software and various others software. Companies that are providing software are Microsoft, Qualcomm and Tibco.

Hardware: This segment will be providing the essential hardware to all parties dealing with mobile applications. The hardware can be handheld devices, PCs, servers and others. Companies that are providing hardware are Handspring, Compaq, HP and Sun Microsystems.

Application: In this sector, companies will be providing different types of services to the mobile end-users. Services can be related to transaction processing, consulting, information services and others. Aether, Air2Web are the companies that are providing various mobile applications to end-users.

All the above sectors have to work together collaboratively in order to create value for mobile consumers. Let us go understand the five phases of mobile business. We can infer that for mobile applications to become popular require continuous improvements in the mobile technology and increased demand from the consumers. The transformation from e-business to m-business is in its early stage. However, soon mobile business will be in its fifth phase where mobile technology will become a major technology required for running the business.

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