Mobile Business Technologies - Essay Example

? Mobile Business Technologies The information superhighway is proceeding in the midst of the evolution of technology and internet. The mobile phone devices are gaining popularity due to the rapid advancement of technology, which allows the users to conveniently access the various types of information available on the internet via the wireless networks used in the mobile phone devices (Unhelkar, 2006). Many new applications are getting invented like iOS, Android and Blackberry applications to name a few. iOS was the name given by Apple to the operating system that runs and supports all the touch screen mobile devices like iPads, iPhones and iPods (Grothaus and Sadun, 2011). iOS has made the touch screen so easy to use because of its Multi-Touch interface. Anything whatever the user does is in an easy, spontaneous and fun way (Apple Inc., 2013). Android is an operating system designed for mobile phones and is developed on the modified version of Linux (Lee, 2012). Google android for last three years has moved from open source solution to the mobile operating system that dominates among all mobile handsets (Jackson, 2012). Research in Motion provides ‘BlachBerry App World’ to the marketplace particularly devoted to the BlackBerry users (Kowalski, 2010). BlackBerry apps have been listed among 1000 best apps developed for mobile phone users (Sandler, 2010). The study highlights on the benefit that a company is enjoying by developing an application for the devices that runs via iOS, Android or BlackBerry apps. The study also focuses on the various aspects of product, reviews the features and throws a light on the cost component. In recent times there has been a dominating trend in all industries among their core products that has compelled the firm’s to move towards other services (Sundin et al., 2006; Vandermerwe and Rada, 1988). Traditionally the manufacturers used to view their services as a mean to enhance value of the good that clearly differentiate between their products and the products offered by their competitors (Foster and Whittle, 1992). But now companies have to think about something different. The concept of “bundles” and “extended product” emerged from customer’s need and new selling approaches (Maussang et al., 2005). According to Vandermerwe and Rada (1988), “Bundles” refer to the combination of products, service, support and knowledge. According to Jansson and Thoben (2002), ‘extended product’ refers to the core product surrounded by set of intangible services and tangible products. Kotler (2003) has suggested five types of ‘service mix’ like tangible goods, intangible goods, hybrid good, major services accompanied by minor products and services and pure services with hybrid offering. The companies are now showing interest in offering hybrid products or services rather than just offering tangible goods and services (Brax, 2005). Nestle is the world’s leading brand in health and nutrition. “Good Food, Good Life” is the main mission of Nestle. In order to achieve this mission the company provides the consumers with wide ranges of food and beverages that caters to taste and nutrition and are meant for every occasion (Nestle, 2013). The business principle of Nestle has developed for over a period of 140 years and forms the basis of the company’s culture. Nestle was created with a vision of providing long term benefits to the shareholders by not only complying to the legal requirements of the company but also ensures that the activities are sustainable and creates value for the society (Nestle's Corporate Business Principles, 2013). Nestle in the year 2010 launched its new application named Corporate App for iPads and iPhones that was heavily backed by technology (Nestle, 2013). This new application was meant for investors and media to make them access latest press releases, reports, presentations and weekly updates on buy-back of shares whether online or offline. This application gained an overwhelming response from all over the world. Since its launch people from all around the world has downloaded the application and started using it. This application was heavily funded by ‘Nestle Investor Relations’. The idea of developing the application started in July, working together with Nestle Corporate Media Relations. The development of the app started in August 2010, by an external agency named Sogeti India. According to the Head of Investor Relations at Nestle, Roddy Child-Villiers, this application was not created to meet the demand but was produced to meet the projected need of the Nestle community in the financial market. The company claims that as per the feedbacks received from the market, the product is a hit. They also claimed that earlier the company had mobile websites but now the development of this new app for the iPads and iPhones are complement to that. Files related to the latest information and large PDFs like annual reports of Nestle, gets automatically downloaded when connected to Wi Fi networks. Even the users can download only chosen files when their mobile phones are connected to 3G networks. All the downloaded contents get stored into the mobile devices and are accessible even offline. The app developed by Nestle supports the company’s initiative to develop solutions, expansion and implementation, while preserving value added and production related solutions (Nestle, 2010). This new application has placed other brands at the fingertips of the consumers with “a clutch of innovative free mobile applications” (Nestle, 2010). Through this application the company has marked its presence in the latest triumph of mobile technology. This app has been targeted to professional audience as well as common individuals. Through this application the expertise of Nestle in health, nutrition and wellness is now connected to millions of people who use mobile devices around the world. Peter Warne, Head of e-Communications at Nestle said that identifying potential consumers and their wants were the main challenging tasks. They found that people were looking for very specific information and the application was designed such that it caters to that particular demand. The figures in 2010 suggest that the app was downloaded 4500 times, which suggested that they were successful in their mission. A good application is a perfect amalgamation of entertainment, correlativity and ultimately e-commerce. According to Michael Moore, Head of Digital Marketing at Nestle, who will download which type of app, depends solely upon the personal preference of the customers. This application has been designed in such a way that it fits to the lifestyle of every consumer. Michael Moore says that “with a range of new apps in the pipeline, our aim will be to make the entire portfolio available to consumers using other mobile platforms” (Nestle, 2010). Four months after launching the application for the iPhones and iPad users, Nestle has launch app for android users too. It has the same features as that of the previous one. Thus by this Nestle has opened its door to enter into the android market too (Nestle, 2010). Nestle is the company that is into the nutrition and wellness industry. Through this application it does not only aims to cater to the needs of the corporate professionals but also to other segments. The Family Nestle kitchen has been also made available on mobile phones (Nestle, 2013). Through this technological up gradation the users can easily download this app and use it. Downloading is as easy as downloading a ring tone (Nestle, 2013). The ‘Receitas’ is the kitchen and superstore friendly application designed by Nestle Brazil that serves dual functionality. The users can get the recipes of their desired dishes by browsing through the database that contains more than 3000 recipes categorized as per taste. From the recipes the user can pull out any ingredients and can add it to their shopping list. They can also share their recipes via emails. Calorie Control and Weight Control application of Nestle provides advices and monitoring techniques to the users to achieve their target weights. Nestle has developed several other applications particularly catering to the requirement of the people in particular part of the world. ‘Devenir Maman’ is the app that gained high appreciation from the mums-to-be in France. This application provides calendars with nutritional information, videos and advices that help the mums-to-be to monitor every stage of their pregnancy. It is represented in magazine style format that is easily understandable. Some of the features present in the ‘Devenir Maman’ website were also implemented in the application specially designed for mobile phones. The application ‘Nespresso’ helps the club member in procuring capsules, equipments and accessories. ‘Petcentric’ is the application meant for pet care was a huge hit among the animal lovers of United States. It not only provides information regarding pet care but also allows the user to locate pet friendly places, service centers for pet care and information regarding latest products available for pet care (Nestle, 2010). Nestle in the month of March 2011 has enhanced their app for iPad, which allows the users to go through the latest new related to Nestle, browse through the share prices of Nestle and also through the annual reports of the company. The company’s annual report includes some animated pictures and graphs that is very well supported by the application (Nestle, 2011). The Digital accelerator of Nestle uses social media for traditional publicity. The team members have developed an app that starts playing a cookery show when the scanning of a package code is initiated. This video, which is very popular in YouTube has boosted the sales of ‘Perrier’, the package drinking water launched by Nestle (Thomasson, 2012). This suggests that the apps developed by Nestle has not only opened doors for new ventures in the IT market but also helped the company in promoting their products. Mobile applications are gaining popularity. They have now become more complex and increasingly wide spread. Many of the firms are now developing mobile applications; this has lead to severe competition. Beside cost the company should also ensure that the application does not suffer any drawbacks like information overload, screen clutter, lack of proper task support and limited interaction mechanism (Paterno, 2010). If the mobile application is implemented in the mobile phone device as a mobile agent then it identifies the capabilities of the user interface within the mobile phone and immediately adapts the application to suit the capability of the device (B’Far, 2005). This suggests that the software behind the development of the application is an important factor. Thus in order to develop an application the main cost incurred by the company is related to both hardware and software. The team developing the software needs proper hardware to test the software. To build a good mobile application a proper platform like Intel based Mac is required. Since one cannot implement the mobile application on physically constructed iOS, for this a platform is necessary. For getting this hardware the estimated cost may range from $1000 to $20000. Beside this for debugging multiple monitors are required. Proper software is as important as hardware. Proper software is required to support the application. For instance iOS, android and Blackberry requires Mac, Java and Windows respectively (McWherter and Gowell, 2012). Apart from this while designing a mobile application, design of screen layout, meeting the functional requirement and information architecture is also very important. The mobile application should properly fit into the functionality of the desktop application and map directly to the task. This increases the usability and utility of the application (Smith and Salvendy, 2001). Therefore in developing the whole application Nestle is expected to incur a cost of nearly $10 million. The mobile application provides the business with the benefits of mobility, suppleness and diffusion. The mobility allows the user to conduct the business from anywhere and at any time where suppleness provides the users with the benefits of capturing the data from any source and origin. The ‘m-business’ application helps in diffusing the information among a larger section of the users in real time that helps in enhancing and improving the service provided to the customers (Sireteanu, 2009). In recent years mobile industry has undergone revolutionary changes due to the technological up gradation. Report says that in the coming years users will expect more apps in their mobile handsets through which they can do more browsing and more shopping. The demand of the consumers for improved technology is increasing at a faster speed, which provides a huge potential for the mobile business. The mobile user will expect optimum utilization of their devices every moment “lifestyle multi-if-not-hypertasking” (Graham, 2013). There has been enormous usage of mobile browsing and application; however there has been no shift in the spending on advertisements of mobile phones. The mobile business is expected to take off and become a part of IT approach and infrastructure. It does not just mean that usage the mobile application are to be made better but it means that proper apps are to be developed to meet function specific requirement. References Apple Inc., 2013. iOS. [online] Available at [Accessed 28 February 2013]. B’Far, R., 2005. 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