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Mobile entertainment comprises a range of activities associated with mobile electronics. [1] The definition is both somewhat subjective and in continual development, but can include purely leisure activities (music, playing games), communications (social media, instant messaging, Twitter), and activities which could also be defined as commerce (shopping).
According to Moore and Rutter: "A primary difficulty when researching mobile entertainment is that of definition". It is not always clear to consumers precisely what ‘mobile entertainment’ is. The problem of producing common understandings of mobile entertainment has been previously highlighted by the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) when stating that 'two different industries make up the mobile entertainment industry: entertainment and telecommunications. Mobile entertainment is created as the convergence of both industries. Each of these worlds speaks a different language, and holds different assumptions about the nature of its work' (‘Terminology of Mobile Entertainment: An Introduction’, MEF, August 2003)." [2]
MGAIN [3] assumes "mobile entertainment includes any leisure activity undertaken via a personal technology which is, or has the potential to be, networked and facilitates transfer of data ... over geographic distance either on the move or at a variety of discrete locations." [2] While workable, the definition does not cover whether mobile entertainment services must interact with service providers or telcos. It does not cover whether such service would incur a cost of usage. If mobile entertainment were said to be a subset of mobile commerce, hence, it must involve transactions of economic value. "The social aspects of mobile entertainment are hidden within the phrase ‘any leisure activity’." [2]
This article "presents a framework to examine mobile entertainment from multiple points of views. This allows future research to be conducted with the clarity of distinguishing mobile entertainment services of different domains." [4]
Wong and Hiew [5] examine multiple perspectives from various players of the value web as well as researchers to bridge the gaps found in various definitions in order to reach a common understanding. The authors consider the following as key considerations in determining whether a mobile service falls under mobile entertainment category: a form of leisure activity, interaction with service providers, utilization of wireless telecommunication networks, and transaction which incur a cost upon usage. To understand mobile entertainment, three different segments are suggested in the following figure. Each segment suggests a specific set of theories. It is implicit throughout the study that mobile entertainment is any type of leisure activity on the move.
Segment 1 consists of intersection between mobile commerce and mobile entertainment, sitting on top of wireless telecommunication networks. In other words, mobile entertainment services in segment 1 must be a subset of mobile commerce, which involves exchanges of monetary value and interaction with service providers.
Segment 2 covers mobile entertainment services which utilize wireless telecommunication networks, but do not incur a cost upon usage and do not interact with service providers. For example, one may play multiplayer mobile games with friends via Bluetooth.
Segment 3 involves mobile entertainment which does not require wireless connection and transaction of an economic value. For example, one may play preinstalled single player games on a handheld device such as a mobile phone.
Mobile entertainment via SMS has expanded rapidly in Europe and Asia and it is still the main technology-bearer to send mobile entertainment messages to consumers. Because SMS is the main messaging technology used by young people, it is still the most effective way of reaching this target market. SMS is also ubiquitous, reaching a wider audience than any other technology available in the mobile space (MMS, bluetooth, mobile e-mail or WAP). More important than anything else, SMS is extremely easy to use, what makes adoption increase day by day.
What enhances the consumer confidence in using SMS for mobile entertainment applications is the reliability of the service. This means, if a consumer has ordered a new wallpaper or ringtone, this has to work properly, in a speedy and reliable way. Therefore, it is important to choose the right SMS gateway provider in order to ensure quality-of-service along the whole path of the entertainment SMS until reaching the consumer's mobile.
A mobile user connects to the Internet via his WAP-enabled mobile phone, searches for a particular ringtone and downloads it onto his mobile phone. This falls under Segment 1 where this activity utilizes wireless telecommunication networks, incurs a cost upon file download, interacts with the service provider and is a form of leisure activity. If he transfers the ringtone to his friend via Bluetooth or infrared, this falls under Segment 2 where such activity still utilizes the wireless network yet does not incur a cost upon file transfer or involves any interaction with service providers. However, if he composes a ring tone (provided if the mobile device supports composing ring tone) and sets it as default ringtone, such activity is still considered as mobile entertainment but it does not utilize the wireless network or incur a cost upon usage.
Therefore, this activity falls under Segment 3. Hence, in this scenario, the players in the value web differ in all three scenarios. The definitions for all three cases vary as well. Hence, the model in the above-mentioned framework aids the industries to determine the appropriate business model to adopt in order to target the right audience.
Wireless broadband is telecommunications technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area. The term comprises both fixed and mobile broadband.
SMS is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet, and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text messages. An intermediary service can facilitate a text-to-voice conversion to be sent to landlines.
In telecommunications, an audit is one of:
A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming call—up to and including recordings of original telephone bells.
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from a mobile phone over a cellular network. Users and providers may refer to such a message as a PXT, a picture message, or a multimedia message. The MMS standard extends the core SMS capability, allowing the exchange of text messages greater than 160 characters in length. Unlike text-only SMS, MMS can deliver a variety of media, including up to forty seconds of video, one image, a slideshow of multiple images, or audio.
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Mobile content is any type of web hypertext and information content and electronic media which is viewed or used on mobile phones, like text, sound, ringtones, graphics, flash, discount offers, mobile games, movies, and GPS navigation. As mobile phone use has grown since the mid-1990s, the usage and significance of the mobile devices in everyday technological life has grown accordingly. Owners of mobile phones can now use their devices to make photo snapshots for upload, twits, mobile calendar appointments, and mostly send and receive text messages, listen to music, watch videos, take mobile pictures and make videos, use websites to redeem coupons for purchases, view and edit office documents, get driving instructions on mobile maps and so on. The use of mobile content in various areas has grown accordingly.
A value-added service (VAS) is a popular telecommunications industry term for non-core services, or, in short, all services beyond standard voice calls and fax transmissions. However, it can be used in any service industry, for services available at little or no cost, to promote their primary business. In the telecommunications industry, on a conceptual level, value-added services add value to the standard service offering, spurring subscribers to use their phone more and allowing the operator to drive up their average revenue per user. For mobile phones, technologies like SMS, MMS and data access were historically usually considered value-added services, but in recent years SMS, MMS and data access have more and more become core services, and VAS therefore has begun to exclude those services.
Tethering, or phone-as-modem (PAM), is the sharing of a mobile device's Internet connection with other connected computers. Connection of a mobile device with other devices can be done over wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), over Bluetooth or by physical connection using a cable, for example through USB.
Short codes, or short numbers, are short digit sequences, significantly shorter than telephone numbers, that are used to address messages in the Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) and short message service (SMS) systems of mobile network operators. In addition to messaging, they may be used in abbreviated dialing.
Mobile marketing is a multi-channel online marketing technique focused at reaching a specific audience on their smartphones, feature phones, tablets, or any other related devices through websites, e-mail, SMS and MMS, social media, or mobile applications. Mobile marketing can provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services, appointment reminders and ideas. In a more theoretical manner, academic Andreas Kaplan defines mobile marketing as "any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device".
Mobile banking is a service provided by a bank or other financial institution that allows its customers to conduct financial transactions remotely using a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. Unlike the related internet banking it uses software, usually called an app, provided by the financial institution for the purpose. Mobile banking is usually available on a 24-hour basis. Some financial institutions have restrictions on which accounts may be accessed through mobile banking, as well as a limit on the amount that can be transacted. Mobile banking is dependent on the availability of an internet or data connection to the mobile device.
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network. A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that use the protocol. Introduced in 1999, WAP achieved some popularity in the early 2000s, but by the 2010s it had been largely superseded by more modern standards. Almost all modern handset internet browsers now fully support HTML, so they do not need to use WAP markup for web page compatibility, and therefore, most are no longer able to render and display pages written in WML, WAP's markup language.
Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Kiribati Limited is the sole communications provider to the Republic of Kiribati. Before a change of ownership, the company was known as Telecom Services Kiribati Limited or short TSKL. In addition to traditional telecommunication, ATHKL offers such services as telegram and facsimile services. Until 2007 the company maintained the country's ccTLD, .ki, which is now under the control of a separate agency, Telecommunications Authority of Kiribati.
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