Those who use cell phones and/or PDAs with internet capabilities are now able to use their devices to shop on some websites, such as Amazon.com and mobile.yahoo.com. Many of the same features available to wireline shoppers are also available to wireless shoppers. They are able to compare prices, perform searches, store items in their shopping cart, and execute ordering. Mobile shopping can also be used to order food from restaurants, bid on auction sites such as eBay, and purchase movie tickets. Mobile applications allowing these services include Vendio and gNumber, who partnered with eBay. Motorola partnered with Food.com to allow restaurant accessibility, and ShopWiki is a mobile search engine that allows to user to conduct price comparisons.
Advertising
Mobile computing is allowing advertising to become even more customer specific. Many cell phones and PDAs are equipped with GPS (Global Positioning Systems). Because of the GPS the customer's physical location can be tracked. SMS (Short Messaging Services) messages and paging messages can be sent to the mobile devices advertising information about stores, restaurants, and other attractions that are near to the potential customer.
Another feature advertising concept that is popular in countries such as Singapore, is offering two minutes of free long-distance calling if the mobile phone user will listen to ten second advertisement sent to his/her phone. Mobile phone users have the ability to accumulate up to 100 free minutes. This method of advertising has not yet been successful in the United States.
Mobile Portals
According to the textbook, "A mobile portal is a customer channel, optimized for mobility that aggregates and provides content and services for mobile users." Mobile portals are very similar to the portals used on desktops and laptops, such as Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL. Mobile portals provide news information, e-mail, entertainment, etc. Many of the Mobile Portals also allow customers to download music and games for a fee. In the U.S., the leading companies offering mobile portals are Cingular, Verizon, and Sprint PCS.
Voice Portals
Chapter six of Information Technology for Management states that "A voice portal is a website with an audio interface." These websites are not accessed in the traditional manner. A phone is used to dial a number that will allow the user to connect with the website. The user may ask for information, the website retrieves the wanted data and communicates it back to the user, via computerized voice. An example of a voice portal site is bevocal.com. Users call the site to gain information pertaining to the weather, traffic, restaurants, etc.
These websites are supported by advertisements. So, when a customer calls in, they usually listen to a commercial of some type. Marketers benefit from this because they then have access to the customers profile and can provide targeted advertising.
Shopping, advertising, and content retrievable methods are changing drastically thanks to new wireless, mobile, and pervasive computing. Physical location is no longer a hindrance for conducting business.
Source:
Turban, Leidner, McLean, Wetherbe. Information Technology for Management Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy. 6th ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2008. p. 220-223.
2 comments:
how connected do we need to be all the time? first the internet allowed us to shop from the comfort of our own computer. now we don't even need to start up the computer(great for energy savings) to get fantastic deals. so much for personal contact and having a sales associate help you. I do see a plus side- when I'm in Lowe's home improvement and can't find an associate to help me, I can shop online and pick up the item while I'm right in the store. how great is that!
The reason I dropped my landline phone was so I would not get telemarketing calls. I will move to a deserted island if I get an ad on my phone. You should be required to sign up for a service that provides this very specific option.
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