Week 8: Chapter 7 - Wireless, Mobile Computing, and Mobile Commerce

1. Identify common wireless devices and their application to business

Wireless technologies include both wireless devices, such as smart phones, and wireless transmission media, such as microwave, satellite and radio. These technologies are fundamentally changing the ways organizations operate and do business. Examples of wireless devices include:
· The Blackberry 8800 http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberry8800/
· The Treo 750 http://www.palm.com/au/products/smartphones/treo750/
· The Motorola Q http://www.motorola.com/motoinfo/product/details.jsp?globalObjectId=113
· The Helio Ocean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helio_Ocean
· The Apple iPhone
· The Sony Mylo http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentDisplayView?cmsId=content/FlankerBullets/mylo/index_mylo&hideHeaderFooter=false&storeId=10151&catalogId=10551&langId=-1

The capabilities of these devices include phone calls, Bluetooth, WI-Fi, a digital camera, GPS, organiser, a scheduler, address book, calculator, access to email and short messages, instant messaging, text messaging, MP3 player, video-player, internet access with full browser applications, and a QWERTY keyboard.

Businesses are finding the use of wireless devices convenient as it:
1. Make productive use of the time that was formally wasted (for example travelling to work.)
2. Is possible to take the devices with them whether at work or home any locations thus becoming more flexible.
3. Wireless technologies enable them to allocate their working time around personal and professional obligations.

2. Describe the various types and general characteristics of wireless transmission media/technologies - microwave, satellite, infrared and radio waves.

Wireless media; transmit signals without wires over the air or in space.
Microwave transmission systems are widely used for high-volume, long distance point-to-point communication. Communication satellites are used in satellite transmission systems. The three types of satellite geostationary earth orbit (GEO), medium earth orbit (MEO), and low earth orbit (LEO). Radio transmission uses radio – wave frequencies not commonly visible to human eye’s. The most common application of infrared light is in remote-control units for televisions and VCRs. Infrared transceivers are being used for short-distance connections between computers and peripheral equipment and LANs. Many portable PCs have infrared ports, which are handy when cable connections with a peripheral are not practical.

3. What is bluetooth/how is it used?

Bluetooth is chip technology that enables short-range connection (data and voice) between wireless devices. Bluetooth can link up to eight devices within a 10-metre area using low-power, radio-based communication. It can transmit up to 2.1 Mbps.
How does Bluetooth work - http://www.swedetrack.com/images/bluet13.htm

4. What are WLAN's, Wi-Fi, WWAN's, 3G?

Wireless local area network (WLAN) a computer network in a limited geographical area that uses wireless transmission for communication. WLAN - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_LAN

Wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) a set of standards for wireless local area networks based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. Wi-Fi - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi

Wireless wide area network (WWAN) a network, generally provided by common carriers, that covers a wide geographic area.

3G is the third generation of wireless networks, which offer faster data transfers. 3G - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G

5. What are the drivers of mobile computing and mobile commerce

Mobile computing is a computing model designed for people who frequently travel. Mobile commerce is any e-commerce conducted in a wireless environment especially, the internet.

The drivers of m-commerce and mobile computing include:

Ø Widespread availability of mobile devices: approx 2.6 billion cells phones will be in use throughout the world in 2009 and in a few years 70% of mobiles will have internet access.
Ø No need for a PC: due to the increase in smart phones.
Ø The ‘cell phone culture’: the widespread use of cell phones is a social phenomenon, especially among young people.
Ø Declining prices: the price of wireless devices is declining and will continue to decline.
Ø Bandwidth improvement: sufficient bandwidth for transmitting text, video, and multimedia.

Mobile computing and m-commerce include many applications that results from the capabilities of various technologies.

6. Explain the nature of RFID

Radio frequency identification (RFID) allows manufactures to attach tags with antennas and computer chips on goods and then track their movement through radio signals. RFID systems use tags with embedded microchips, which contain data and antennas to transmit radio signals over a short distance to RFID readers. The readers pass the data over a network to a computer for processing. The chip in the RFID tag is programmed with information that uniquely identifies an item. It also identifies the location, where and when it was made.

RFDI - http://www.aimglobal.org/technologies/RFID/what_is_rfid.asp

Methods of RFID include: