Exercise 25:M-commerce and the e-wallet: Innovation and mobile devices

What is meant by a location based service?

A location-based service (LBS) is an information and entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device.

LBS services can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, work, personal life, etc.  LBS services include services to identify a location of a person or object, such as discovering the nearest banking cash machine or the whereabouts of a friend or employee. LBS services include parcel tracking and vehicle tracking services. LBS can include mobile commerce when taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customers based on their current location. They include personalized weather services and even location-based games. They are an example of telecommunication convergence.

This concept of location based systems is not compliant with the standardized concept of real time locating systems and related local services (RTLS), as noted in ISO/IEC 19762-5  and ISO/IEC 24730-1.

References:“Foundations of Location Based Services”, Stefan Steiniger, Moritz Neun and Alistair Edwardes, University of Zurich

“Permanent Reference Document SE.23: Location Based Services“

The difference between WAP and SMS services

This diagram illustrates the essential elements of WAP push . There are several ways that messages can be sent to mobile terminals: via PPG using PAP, via a provided access point to the SMSC using a protocol such as SMPP, or via the SMS-enabled terminal using the Mobile Application Part. In WAP push terminology, the sender of the message is called the push initiator.

In terms of the infrastructure provided, the mechanism used by the sender may cause the message to be routed to an SMSC or a push proxy for onward delivery. The PPG is capable of communicating directly to the recipient or using SMS as a delivery mechanism (either as plain text or as WAP push content). The recipient is either a push-capable terminal or a terminal with short messaging capability.

A major advantage of WAP push is the ability for the developer to send “active” content. In other words, depending on the type of content being sent and the application being addressed in the mobile terminal, the content will be presented to the recipient and can be automatically viewed. Even more powerful, the user may “take action” by using a developer-defined soft-key to immediately activate an application to accomplish a specific task, such as downloading a picture, making a purchase, or responding to a marketing offer. Indeed, WAP push may also be used to initiate activity without user intervention.

The Push system provides a superior level of service and features that build upon the experience of SMS. It provides for active content that can be used, in its simplest form, as a novel way of introducing new services, and in its more sophisticated form, to deliver the service itself. Push via the Openwave Push Proxy Gateway provides all the capabilities necessary to communicate to the widest possible group of users, while facilitating the development of applications by providing a single, open-standard push access point.

Reference:http://developer.openwave.com/docs/wappush_vs_sms.pdf