Slide 15.9: Mobile commerce applications (cont.)   Slide 15.11: Internet-enabled mobile handheld devices   Home

Mobile Commerce Applications (Cont.)

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Wireless Classrooms
Educators can use handheld devices with mobile Internet access to improve teaching and learning in both local and wide area network environments.

• Local area wireless access. Using handheld devices equipped with the appropriate software and connected by a wireless network to the Internet exposes students to a rich variety of Web resources that can help them learn various concepts and subjects.


• Wide area wireless access. Teacher training places a heavy emphasis on integrating technology with instruction and learning, yet the reality of inadequate school facilities often dismays instructors. Mobile computing technology provides the functionality of a desktop PC to teachers who are displaced from their room.

Retailing and Small-Amount Transactions
Cell phones are able to handle any number of purchases made on the fly: movie tickets, soft drinks, or Happy Meals. The vending machine will be equipped either with the radio portion of a cell phone so that it can receive the call, or with a transceiver that works using Bluetooth, a wireless connection that allows high-speed communication among devices within a short distance of one another.

The machine will then offer you a menu. You'll choose, say, a Diet Pepsi for 75 cents and enter a PIN, and out will tumble your soft drink.