Ubiquitous Commerce: Theories, Technologies, and Applications

Abstract

With the rapid development of ubiquitous computing and mobile communication technologies, the traditional business model will change drastically. As a logical extension of e-commerce and m-commerce, ubiquitous commerce (u-commerce) research and application are currently under transition with a history of numerous tried and failed solutions, and a future of promising but yet uncertain possibilities with potential new technology innovations. At this point of the development, we propose a suitable framework and organize the u-commerce research under the proposed classification scheme. The current situation outlined by the scheme has been addressed by exploratory and early phase studies. We hope the findings of this research will provide useful insights for anyone who is interested in u-commerce. The paper also provides some future directions for research.