ReleaseWire Connect

There are a wide variety of factors that define the success of a mobile technology including instant connectivity, convenience, and personalization. Successful mobile applications are typically perceived by their users as being accessible anytime and anywhere, highly adaptable to the user's needs, and not revealing any private information about the user. However, many potential consumers of mobile technology are not convinced that all m-commerce applications would provide them with such an experience.

As of Q1 2012, forty-nine mobile network operators worldwide have launched fourth-generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks commercially. As a result of early investment in LTE infrastructure and device R&D, MNOs and device vendors are pushing hard to increase LTE enabled device among users, both in the public and enterprise sector. The year 2011 has already witnessed over 8.2 Million LTE enabled device shipments which account for revenues of over 2 Billion USD. With the number of shipments expected to reach over 30 Million by the end 2012, the industry is set to grow at a rapid pace.

Mobile Commerce is for more than just consumer applications - it's definition is often constrained to certain device assumptions, use case scenarios, and business models.

The Smartphone market is currently the fastest-growing segment and it will continue to outpace the overall handset market for the foreseeable future. User friendly platform and evolving user behavior pattern are responsible for its exponential growth. In the past few years Smartphone sales have grown exponentially. In 2011, 472 million Smartphone were sold worldwide. This is expected to rise to 1 billion by 2016. Smartphones now account for 17% of all global mobile handset sales. Particularly in the USA, 43% end-users have Smartphone which is equivalent to France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

Various companies are increasingly exploiting electronic channels to reach their customers and create new business opportunities. To this end, many electronic shopping channels have been developed. These channels offer either products from a single firm or encompass multiple individual electronic stores, comprising representing an electronic shopping mall. Electronic shopping has attracted the attention of extensive R&D, which has developed various market perspectives, including user attitude, critical success factors, security, technical aspects, and more.

As of Q4 2011, thirty eight mobile network operators worldwide had launched fourth-generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks commercially. Despite a slow ramp and spending stall on overall cellular network infrastructure in 2011, the industry is witnessing sustainable spending acceleration for the LTE wireless infrastructure equipment. Key drivers are higher data speeds of up to 20 Mbps, simplified all-IP networks and the commercial availability of more than 200 4G LTE - enabled devices.

Arguably, the cellular communications marketplace has reached a point of saturation in terms of customer acquisition. Network operators are increasingly reliant upon cannibalizing customers from each other and growing revenue from non-voice communications. There are many other potential areas for driving revenue growth and improved profitability including:

The Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard was introduced in 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) Release 8 as an evolutionary step representing the fourth generation (4G) of cellular communications. It provides an enhanced user experience for broadband wireless networks and will usher in a plethora of new bandwidth dependent applications.

Real-time Location Services are changing processes and procedures in yards, hospitals, warehouses, factories and any facilities in which location determination and tracking in real-time is crucial. RTLS applications support operational areas for logistics and other services, to combine identity and location of any type of items or objects, allowing for efficient location procedures through automatic determination/tracking with the click of a mouse button.

The M-commerce market is projected to be accelerated by the following sub sectors; Mobile Payments (including Digital and Physical Payments, Contactless NFC and Mobile Money Transfer), Mobile Ticketing, Mobile Coupons and Mobile Banking. We believe this will be partially due to developments in non-traditional cellular usage and the ascent of the tablet computing devices. This report provides analysis of current and the future market for mobile commerce applications from (2012-2017). The research identifies the future of handset, tablets and consumer behavior relative to m-commerce applications.