Page 310 - Electronic Commerce

Social Networking, Mobile Commerce, and Online Auctions

Mobile Phones
Internet-capable phones first caught on in Japan and parts of Southeast Asia because
telecommunications companies there offered high-capacity mobile phone networks long
before U.S. network providers did. NTT DoCoMo, which is still the largest phone company
in Japan, launched mobile commerce there in 2000 with its i-mode service. Starting with
the sale of games and other programs that run on the phones, NTT DoCoMo was a leader
in global mobile commerce, including online shopping and payments.
In the United States, smartphones and the high-capacity networks that make them
functional began appearing in 2008. These smartphones, such as the Apple iPhone and 285
phones that use the Android operating system, opened the door for serious U.S. mobile
commerce for the first time.

Tablet Devices
In 2010, Apple introduced the iPad, a tablet device that is smaller (with fewer capabilities)
than a laptop computer, yet larger than a smartphone. Tablet devices can be connected to
the Internet through a wireless phone carrier’s service or through a local wireless
network. Most tablet devices can use both access modes and can switch between them
automatically. Within a year, many other manufacturers had introduced tablet devices to
compete with the iPad. By 2012, some of these manufacturers were producing tablet-
smartphone hybrids. Very large smartphones with high-resolution screens are called
phablets (a combination of “phone” and “tablet”).
These tablet devices became widely used throughout the world very rapidly. By 2016,
industry experts expect more tablet devices to be sold each year than personal computers
(both notebook and desktops). Figure 6-5 shows this dramatic growth in worldwide sales
of tablet devices.

2500

Mobile phones
2000 (smartphones and others)
Personal computer
(desktop and notebook)
1500
Tablet devices

1000

500

0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2016 2017
Sources: Research reports and projections by Gartner, NPD Display Search, and BGR.
FIGURE 6-5 Actual and projected sales of personal computers, tablet devices, and mobile phones
(in millions of units)
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