Ubiquitous commerce

Ubiquitous Commerce also known as U-Commerce, u commerce or uCommerce, refers to a variety of goods and/or services. Sometimes, it is used to refer to the wireless, continuous communication and exchange of data and information between and among retailers, customers, and systems (e.g., applications) regardless of location, devices used, or time of day.

Sometimes, U-Commerce describes the generic term for all-encompassing business transactions through or by means of information and communications technology. Ubiquitous commerce or uCommerce should not be confused with U.Commerce, which is a set of products and services offered by TouchNet Information Systems, Inc. and is a registered U.S. trademark (Reg. 4,069,063).

Core Concepts

According to Richard T. Watson the next generation of commerce referred to as Ubiquitous Commerce (or U-Commerce) includes four major features:

Ubiquitous = represents the ability to be connect at any time and in any place as well as the integration of human-computer interaction into most devices and processes, e.g. household objects.
Uniqueness = stands for the unique identification of each customer or user regarding his identity, current context, needs and location resulting in an individual service.
Universal = is related to everyone’s devices which can be used multifunctional and as well as universal –you will always be connected no matter of your place.
Unison = constitutes the data integration across applications and devices to provide users consistent and fully access to required information independent of device and location. The term unison also relates to fully synchronised devices at any time.

Areas

U-Commerce is described as the evolution of E-Commerce and M-Commerce also combining the areas of V-commerce, Television-Commerce (T-Commerce) as well as Silent-Commerce (S-Commerce).

Technologies

The origin and development of Ubiquitous Commerce is based on various information and communication technologies. These technologies were driving forces for the evolution to business transactions at any time and in any place and so they will be in the future.

Among them are the following examples:

Internet as the fundamental technology and source

mobile data services regarding M-Commerce which are especially Wireless LAN, UMTS, HSDPA and in the future 4G / WiMAX

TV technologies/add-ons like Teletext and increasingly IPTV

technologies enhancing the communication of devices (EDI, XML, Web service)

In addition, there are also technologies regarding the concept of Ubiquitous Computing which are and will be the main driving forces for the Ubiquitous Commerce. These are mainly the following:

technologies of M2M communication, which include some of the technologies mentioned above

methods for the automatic identification and data capture (Auto-ID) e.g. GPS und RFID

in the future also smart and self-organizing devices/systems and the related technologies like sensors, AI

Opportunities and threats

In conjunction of the evolution of ubiquitous commerce in daily life and the approaching pervasiveness, a few opportunities as well as threats can be identified.

Opportunities:

individual advertising and also information supply e.g. based on location, time or mood of the customer
high availability of services
new potential revenue for supplier and accordingly new business models
advanced analysis alternatives for suppliers and customers (location, time, habit)
increasing mobility of customers and suppliers

Threats:

information privacy and threatening of mass surveillance
increasing requirements due to more diversity and quantity of devices and also energy consumption
Information overload and likely complexity - also Big Data
higher vulnerability to spoofing and security holes; e.g. as a result of more targets
rising exclusion of the elderly based on requirements of higher technical skills
"desocialization" of customer and supplier

References

Roussos, George (2006). Ubiquitous and Pervasive Commerce. Springer. ISBN 978-1-84628-035-1.
Richard T. Watson (2000). U-commerce: the ultimate. Retrieved March 14, 2012
Watson, R.T. ; Junglas, Iris A. U-Commerce - The Ultimate Commerce. Retrieved March 14, 2012

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