Sunday, 6 November 2011

Week 12

Ok so this will be the last post for this course. This week we are looking at Security, privacy and IP.


Question 1 -
See if you can find an example of a privacy breach that was reported in the Australian or international news in the last 6 months. What were the consequences? i.e. legal, political, financial, personal etc. What action was taken in response to the privacy breach?

Well I'm am guessing that every one in the class will be talking about the same thing for this question. The News International Phone Hacking Scandal has been one of the biggest examples of breaches of privacy of our time.
Staff of the Newspaper were accused of Hacking into the phone message banks of celebrities, politicians and the Royal Family as well as relatives of solders killed in Afghanistan and families of victims of crime. The news paper then published stories about the people using the private content of their messages.
As a consequence there was an inquiry into the scandal, people lost their jobs, people high up in the news paper resigned and the whistle blower Sean Hoare was found dead in "unexplained circumstances (S, Rogers & K, Pedersen, 2011) for a comprehensive timeline and compleate overview of the whole scandle click here and you can see The Gaurdian's coverage of the scandle.

Some of the main consequences of the scandal included:
  • the aressts of seinior staff
  • the resignation of staff
  • the death of the whistle blower
  • the closing of the news paper after 168 years of publication (S, Rogers & K, Pedersen, 2011) 
  • huge financial losses for the company 
Bellow is some footage of the inquiry being announced to parliament.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRBwzgYNwF4
References

S, Rogers & K, Pedersen (2011, July 21). Phone hacking: what happened when? Visualised [interactive timeline table] The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2011/jul/21/phone-hacking-what-happened-when

Friday, 4 November 2011

WEEK 11

This week we are looking at Web 2.0

Exercise - select five applications that you have not heard of before from Popular URL's Web 2.0 awards or the webware awards and describe on your blog page how they could be useful to a business.

First Site: OpenTable.com
Category: Location-based services
OpenTable is an online reservation service. It lets people find reservations at local restaurants and book them from their computer or mobile phone; all the while, not having to use the traditional system of calling or visiting the restaurants in person (Webware, 2009).
Along with its reservation system, OpenTable also maintains a database of restaurant information and reviews from both its users and partners. Similar to Yelp and CitySearch, this lets people recommend or discourage restaurants in OpenTable's database. Those reviews show up to other users when they do a search or while they plan to book a reservation (Webware, 2009).

This app would be useful to business to help attract new customers. It would be particularly useful to new businesses. In urban areas it can often be difficult to find a restaurant with a vacant table on a Saturday night. This app would allow restaurants to attract new customers and also help increase the amount of customers coming through the restaurant each night. An example of how this might directly benefit a business is, if there was a restaurant out of the way a little that the customer had never heard of if this app alerted the customer to the restaurant and the customer enjoyed the food and the service, the restaurant will most likely gain a new customer. This new customer will then also tell others so there is a flow on effect.
A possible negative to the app for a business is the fact that people can post reviews. So there is always the chance of negative feedback.
Here is a screen shot of what the user will see when they use the app.  

Figure 1.

Second Site: FlightStats.com
Category: Location-based services

FlightStats mashes up the real-time flight information with Google Maps. Like other flight trackers, it shows scheduled departure and landing times, as well as actual take-off and projected landing. It will also send you e-mail or SMS alerts if the flight status changes, which is highly useful if your carrier or Web ticketing service doesn't offer such a feature (Webware, 2009)
FlightStats also has a very good mobile-friendly site and applications for certain handsets. It's the one you'll use when you're hanging around in the airport wondering just how far away a flight you're waiting for is (Webware, 2009)

This app would be useful to airline companies to help reduce the amount of time staff spent dealing with customers asking questions. It would be particularly helpful during extreme events such as the Chilean volcanic eruption earlier this year. During times like this staff have enough to deal with so if something could deal with the masses of questions automatically that would be very useful. Below is a screen shot of what the user would see when on the site.

(Credit: CNET)
 Figure 2.

Third Site: GoodGuide
Category: Editors' Choice, Best Newcomer

We created the Editors' Choice awards for products like this: Small and relatively unknown products that demonstrate real leadership, but that don't yet have enough traction to win in the user vote part of the Webware 100 (Webware, 2009).
GoodGuide is a product recommendation system focused on "safe, healthy, and green products." It will tell you what chemicals are in your toothpaste, or if your socks are made with sweatshop labour (Webware, 2009).
The company's real value add is in acquiring the data on the products. There's an iPhone app for the service as well, so you can check on items when you're out shopping. As we said when the site launched: It's a simple story. But it's told very well (Webware, 2009).

This app would be very useful to businesses in the health food industry. Businesses that create foods and products that don't have harmful chemical in them could use this app as a way of getting the word out about their product. Bellow is an image of what the user would see when on the site.  
.
Figure 3.

Fourth Site: Yelp.com
Category: Location-based services

Yelp is an online reviews service for local eateries and attractions. Users can leave reviews for any business they've been to, including photos and personal anecdotes. Yelp then gives the establishment a 1-5 star rating based on the total number of user ratings, which makes it easy to find out whether or not a restaurant is worth going to (Webware, 2009).
Yelp's service can also be found on mobile devices, both as a mobile-friendly Web app and a native client where users can pen in the beginnings of a new review while out and about (Webware, 2009).
In the past year Yelp has suffered harsh criticisms for its advertising program, which targets businesses that want to improve the way their review pages look. Businesses that pay can remove on-page recommendations for competing restaurants, and select a single user review to go on top of all the others. In response to claims that this was giving businesses a leg up, Yelp recently introduced a way for business owners to publicly respond to user reviews (both good and bad), so that all other users can see (Webware, 2009).

This app would be useful to business in the same way as the first one was. This site has the added feature of the restaurant owner being able to respond to bad feedback. This would need to be carefully thought out though as sometimes getting into a public mudslinging contest is the worst publicity of all. Below is a screen shot of what users would see while on the site.

Figure 4.
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10240169-29.html?tag=mncol
Fifth Site: Google.com/goog411
Category: Location-based services

Goog411 (1-800-GOOG-411) was introduced in early 2007 as a way to access Google search results on your mobile phone. It's the equivalent of dialling 411, but it's free, and pulls multiple listings like the ones you'd get from a search in Google Maps. Mobile phone users can get listings sent to their phone via SMS, including telephone numbers and full addresses. You can also be connected to a business for free (Webware, 2009).
The entire service runs off voice-recognition technology, which has since been baked into other Google products, including Google's motion-activated iPhone app. Also, if the voice-recognition ever fails, you can simply dial in the name of the business you're looking for using your phone's keypad (Webware, 2009).

This app would be useful to businesses as just like Google it’s self the app tells the user how to contact the business and makes it easier for the user to contact the business. I would think that being Google there is also the ability for businesses to pay to have their business come up as a preference, simular to Google ads in the search engine. This would then become another way for businesses to get their name out to consumers.  

References
Webware Staff, (2009, May 19).Webware winner 100: Open Table.CNET. Retrieved from http://www.webware.com/100/?tag=rb_content;overviewHead    

Webware Staff, (2009, May 19).Webware winner 100: Open Table.CNET. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10240169-29.html?tag=mncol

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Week Ten

This week we are looking at trust. There has been no in class session this week.   

1) What is meant by the following statements?

Trust is not associative (non-symmetric)
This means that trust is not necessarily the same on both sides of the transaction or any other situation. Say for a simple example, I trust my wife to remember to pick up a birthday card for my mum. This does not mean my wife would trust me to remember to pick one up for her mum. In business an example of this would be that a seller may trust that the buyer will hold up their end of the deal and transfer the money for a product or service but the buyer may not have the same amount of trust that the seller will deliver what they have promised.

Trust is not transitive

I think that what is meant by this statement is that trust will not be transferred from one party to the next just through association. For example if a manufacturer trusts their wholesaler it doesn't mean that they will automatically trust the retailer that the wholesaler on sells their product to.

Trust is always between exactly 2 parties.

this statement means that the trust in any transaction is between the two parties that the transaction is between. for example in a situation where a manufacturer sells to a wholesaler and then the wholesaler sells to a retailer, the retailer only has to trust the wholesaler to provide the goods. the same retailer may not even know the manufacturer, the trust for the manufacturer lies between them and the wholesaler.

Trust will involve either direct trust or recommended trust

recommended trust is where one party recommends trust of a third party to someone. for example if a manufacturer trusts their wholesaler they may recommend them to another manufacturer, assuming that this manufacturer trusts the person making the recommendation then they will most likely take on the trust recommended.
2a) Have a look at the following websites. What are some of the elements that have been incorporated to increase your trust in the sites? If there are also some aspects which decrease your level of trust describe them as well.

http://www.ebay.com.au/
http://www.anz.com.au/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/
http://www.paypal.com.au/

After looking at all of these sites here is a list of elements I think have been put in to increase trust.
  • Contact us page
  • Sign in/log in pages, registration.
  • Customer support and help pages.
  • Legal agreements, Product disclosure statements, user agreements, terms of use pages, privacy policy's, security statements.
  • Safety advice pages.
  •  Feed back forums.
  • secure payment sites recognisable by the padlock symbol or the https as seen in the picture opposite.
  • Give out phone numbers.
  • Use pictures of people and families to evoke a feeling that other people use and run the site.
2b) Find a web site yourself that you think looks untrustworthy.
Here is a website that I think is untrustworthy, for a start look at the URL it is so long


Another reason I think of this site as untrustworthy is because the picture below is a screen shot of the link to it from another site http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ it has said this every time I have visited the host site. Any site that miss leads people like that, I would consider untrustworthy. 
    

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Week Nine

So this week we are looking at channel conflict. There have been no questions set for this week so I am just going to note some of the key issues of channel conflict. All of the points are taken from Ian Knox' week 9 write up and lecture slides on channel conflict.

  • Access to the Internet has given buyers opportunities that may affect what they purchase, when and where they take their business. 
  • Sellers can reach large numbers of any time of the day and reach beyond the geographical limits of their store.
  • Channel conflict occurs when manufactures or brand owners begin to sell direct to the consumer, cutting out their wholesalers and retailers. 
  • Channel conflict can be defined as any situation where two different marketing or distribution channels are competing for the same sale with the same brand. 
  • Channel conflict can occur between an off line bricks and mortar store and the same stores online store as retail employees feel threatened. 
  • Conflict can be direct, internal or external. 
  • Conflict can be found at any stage of the business process including pricing, order handling, delivery, service and repair,  customer service and resistance to change. 
  • If there is no strategies to manage conflict brands may 'cannibalise'.
  • Neither brands nor retailers can rely on customer loyalty. (Knox, 2011)
Unfortunately I think I missed the sale of the old car put on eBay. When I clicked on the link it just said the item was unavailable.

  References

Knox, I (2011). Topic 9 Channel conflict. [PowerPoint slides]. BC501: eBusiness Fundamentals. UB, EG TAFE.

Thursday, 6 October 2011

Week Eight.

OK so this week we are looking at online auctions and in particular eBay.

Q1: eBay is one of the only major Internet "pure plays" to consistently make a profit from its inception. What is eBay's business model? Why has it been so successful?

eBay's business model is a broker. One of the major reasons for its success is eBay's diversity. Over the past decade it has branched out into all different facets of facilitating transactions. eBay now offers listings at a fixed price, it has become involved with payment processing with the acquisition of paypal, it facilitates person to person communication with the acquisition of Skye and is also moving into the classified market with a 25% share of Craigslist (Rapper, 2008). eBay has not allowed it's self to become stagnate and has moved and grown with the demand for its service.

Q2: Other major web sites, like Amazon.com and Yahoo!, have entered the auction marketplace with far less success than eBay. How has eBay been able to maintain its dominant position?

eBay was one of the few sites to be profitable right from the start. The company has managed to maintain its dominant position by using the Internet to bring large numbers of people together at a low cost. Amazon.com had to invest and invest before it became profitable and has to continue to invest constantly. Amazon has much higher overheads that eBay. These include huge inventory costs, warehousing, staff and dispatch costs. eBay on the other hand has very few overheads, it takes no possession of goods and simply charges a fee. I think eBay is also very clever in the way it makes its money, it charges you at every chance it gets, when you sell, when you buy and now with the acquisition of pay pal it charges you when you pay. Yet because the amounts are quite small this does not put people off. When you consider the fact that eBay has very little to do with each transaction and there are 68 million active users (Rapper, 2008), it is a very successful money making machine. 
  
Q3: What method does eBay use to reduce the potential for fraud among traders on its site? What kinds of fraud, if any, are eBay users most susceptible?

Through their security center eBay offers tutorials on safety procedures such as, identity safety, computer safety and how to avoid fraud. This center has a reporting tab where users can report fraud it also has a link that security software developers can click on and inform eBay if they have identified a security vulnerability.
Another method used is the Feed Back and rating system, this system allows users to leave comments and rate other users on their performance as a buyer of seller. This is a very useful tool and allows users to benefit from the past experiences of other users.  


Q4: eBay makes every effort to conceptualize its users as a community (as opposed to, say "customers" or "clients"). What is the purpose of this conceptual twist and does eBay gain something by doing it?

eBay promotes the community concept because for the site to be successful it needs it's customers (both buyers and sellers) to participate in a manner that recognises a shared interest. Rapper (2008) states that "both buyers and sellers must take a vested interest in the overall soundness of eBay as a broker." The reason that this is so important to eBay is because of the company's limited ability to grantee satisfaction. eBay's success is largely based on the overall success of it's community of users.   

Q5: eBay has long been a marketplace for used goods and collectibles. Today, it is increasingly a place where major businesses come to auction their wares. Why would a brand name vendor set-up shop on eBay?

The attraction of eBay for all types of sellers including brand name vendors include:
  • The ability to maximise prices and achieve the highest possible price.
  • The obvious benefits that come with the global exposure to 168 million registered users (Rapper, 2008).
  • The ability to reach a wider audience or market than that which is geographically possible.
  • The relative low overheads that are associated with any online  business, as opposed to a bricks and mortar outlet.
  • The fact that eBay has such sound and proven systems in place to handle the transaction, this is much easier than trying to reinvent the wheel.
Q6. I have a few businesses, and I have used eBay for about 12 years on and off. Currently I have about 600 books listed on eBay (seller name ozrural). I stopped selling on eBay for a few years but they changed the rules this July and it is viable again (for me). What do you think changed?

In July eBay changed the way it charges for listing books and music. From what I understand the fee system is now a fixed system that takes less from the seller and makes it more viable for a seller to sell items that are sold at a lower cost.

Additional (optional) task: If not already a member, join eBay and explore the functions of the site (optional). Consider making a purchase, or perhaps try your hand at selling. Auctions are impacting on all aspects of business so it is useful to understand how they work.

I have up until recently had nothing to do with eBay. But actually, after the lecture where Ian Knox came in and chatted to us about his son's online business I decided to give it a go. I remember thinking about what Ian said about not necessarily needing to come up with a new idea. I did some research on what people were selling on eBay and what I could buy from other sites such as Ali express. The thing I came up with that was selling well and that I could purchase at the right price was leather IPhone 4 cases. I purchased a package of 50 cases from China that worked out to cost $2 each. I have put them on eBay at a buy now price of $6.50 inc postage and I also have put some on auction (I have put in a screen shot of my sale page rather than a link to the sale as I figured it would not work once the sale finished). It has been an interesting experiment but hardly one that is going to make me rich. I have found it is a very difficult market to break into and that the margins are very low. It is difficult to get your product to come up high in the consumer search with out paying for the privilege, and if you do pay for it then you loose the majority of your profit. I am sure that the more you did this the better you would become at it and that you would learn the tricks that help maximise your profitability. For now I think I'll stick to my day job. and try to think of another use for a heap of leather IPhone cases, on that note if there was anyone who wanted a leather case for their IPhone, get in quick, I only have about 48 left and with the release of the IPhone 5 any day now these will be a collectors item in no time........ (yes, I am being sarcastic).
   

References.

Rapper, M. (2008). CASE STUDY: EBAY. On Managing the digital enterprise [web audio]. North Carolina, USA:

Friday, 23 September 2011

Week Seven

Ok so this week we had a lecture at SEATS to discuss the test and the Blog requirements. I have done the test and got 22/30 on the multiple choice questions.
This week we are looking at Digital Automata. I have had a little trouble with Moodle this week, there was a second power point presentation with a voice over but I could not get it to work.

1) Check this link to my ‘intelligent’ cybertwin which I also mentioned in the Powerpoint. You may like to create your own cybertwin as well. The more you 'train' your twin, the better the responses will be. While it is just a fun exercise, Think of the opportunities. Imagine if we had a cybertwin that could answer your questions about the course. Or perhaps a shopping assistant?

So the first thing we were to do this week was check out Ian's cybertwin. I had a chat to 'him' and was fairly amused with the response. Having met Ian once I think his cybertwin has far less tact than the real Ian does. I think I would want my own twin to be a little nicer to people before I would let it represent me in business. That said the whole thing was fun and good for a laugh. Here is a copy of the conversation Ian's 'twin' and I had (the you in the transcript is referring to me and the conversation is highlighted):

You: Hi Ian how are you?

Ian: My brain aches all the time and I can't seem to get interested in anything but doom and gloom? Am I ill or just rotten?

You: maybe ill?

Ian: I am the ultimate being, master of the dark place behind the fridge. Do not say maybe to me.

Ian: Have you thought about studying eBusiness?

You: yes.

Ian: I will do what ever I want.

You: ok fair enough.

Ian: Really matt Hams, you must articulate at length if you are going to become dastardly in any effective kind of way!

Ian: What job do you se yourself doing in 10 years?

You: running my business in the pet industry.

Ian: Pets are a waste of money, that could otherwise be spent on dynamite or spraycans.
So there you have it..... A little strange I know.......

2) Write a one paragraph describing the Turing test and another paragraph describing an argument against the Turing Test, known as the about the Chinese room

The Turing test is described as a test that assesses a machine's ability to think or understand. The tests original form was a person talking to another person and a computer. The conversation was text based from a key board and if the person conducting the test could not distinguish between the computer and the other person, then the computer passed the test. I am finding it hard to source my answer because I have read lots of different sites about this and this answer is my own spin on all that I have read. This article from Stanford university was interesting and discusses the test at length. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-test/

The Chinese room is an argument put forward by John Searle. From what I can gather Searle's main argument is that no machine truly has the ability to think and that all machines are limited to the depth of their programing. The analogy Searle uses is a good one and after my research I think I am with Searle. His analogy is that of a man in a room being passed notes under the door in Chinese. In the room the man has instructions about what he must do, these include some Chinese symbols that the man must copy and send back. If the man follows the instructions he need not know what the messages in Chinese say. In this same way a machine must only follow the instructions given to it to complete the task at hand. So if it follows the instructions (programing) given to it it will achieve the goal, yet it will not truly understand what it has done. A good example I thought of to demonstrate this would be if a computer was to be used to track fatalities in the military. The information could be processed by the machine and based on the numbers given to it, it could send out notice to the families of the deceased. However the machine would not understand that the information was sad, sensitive and that it may upset the family that is receiving it. the computer would achieve the goal but not with any consciousness about what it had done. 

3) Can virtual agents succeed in delivering high-quality customer service over the Web? Think of examples which support or disprove the question or just offer an opinion based on your personal experience. Write you answer on your blog page or express an opinion on this voice discussion board (it's simple to join). If you choose this option please link (live in an hour or so) to it from your blog page.

I have answered this question on the voice discussion board click the link and you will be taken to the board and you will be able to hear my post.

Sunday, 11 September 2011

Week Six

Ok so this week has been another week in the online learning environment.

a)      What experiences have you had with shopping online?
I have purchased:
·         Clothing
·         Books
·         Movies and music (itunes)

b)     Describe a good experience
A good experience I have had is the purchasing of books from Amazon. The prices are always competitive, and the delivery has always been reliable and to the date which the seller informed me the books would be arriving.  
Another good experience is purchasing music from itunes. The systems that itunes have in place makes the whole transaction so easy. From search, to payment and retrieval of the purchase, the transaction is easy.
c)      What did you like about the online store you used?
In both of the above cases, I liked the visual aspect of the sites (seeing the covers of the music or books), and the recommendations. This has meant that I have been able to find similar books and music etc that others have also been interested in, and this has lead to an addition purchase for me in alot of cases.
d)     Describe a bad experience
A bad experience I have had is purchasing jeans from America. I purchased two pairs of jeans of the exact same size and brand, when they arrived one pair fit and the other pair didn’t. The jeans were cheaper to buy from America than Australia, but to post them back and have another pair sent which did fit would have meant that they were more expensive than purchasing in Australia. If I had purchased in store – I would have been able to try the jeans on, and would not have had this issue.
e)      What problems did you have with the online store?
The problems with purchasing the jeans online was that the sizes were not reliable, which makes purchasing clothes online in general a very difficult experience. I have not purchased clothing online since, as if they do not fit, the benefit of the clothes being cheaper is lost.
f)       What features make an online store more appealing?
For me, I like easy systems, as few a processes as possible to make a purchase, and I like to see pictures of what I am buying, regardless of what it is that I intend to purchase.
g)      What features make an online store less appealing?
Confusing purchase processes, for example unable to find the checkout or where or how or too many options for payment.
The sites which operate on an infomediary business model such as we discussed last week make an online store less appealing for me. I don’t like the intrusive questions which are asked and are made mandatory before I can make my purchase. Quite often, if a site asks me too many questions which are not related to the immediate purchase, I will leave the site without buying anything.
h)     Should we expect to see the prices of goods and services rise or fall due to the migration of consumers online?
In my opinion, the prices should continue to fall due to the migration of consumers online. As the demand increases for purchasing products and services online, more merchants will enter this market. For this reason, there will be more competition among sellers, thus decreasing prices.
More merchants are also becoming aware that there are less overheads when selling online, such as no rents to pay (besides the domain or online shop) and consumers willing to pay the postage costs in most cases.

Question 2
a)      The dispersion of prices will narrow
It is hard to say whether the dispersion will narrow. I think in the short to medium term the dispersion will not narrow. As the article suggested dispersion of prices on line is not much different from those in the bricks and mortar retail market. This is largely due to the following facts:
·         Product heterogeneity.
·         Buyer trust in online sellers.
·         Efficiency.
·         Ill informed buyers.
·         Buyers concern for time effective shopping.
It is interesting to think that the article we have been reading from was written in 1999. More than a decade on I believe the principles behind the reasons for the dispersion of prices are as relevant today as they were in 99. The article spoke a lot about the fact that these E-markets were immature. This is one area that, I guess, has changed over the past decade although as the markers mature the technology they use continues to surpass them and create room for further growth and development. It is for this reason i think that the dispersion will remain the same or simular for at least the short-term. I think a huge factor in the dispersion will be the further development of the semantic web. As the web becomes smarter and search becomes more dynamic, the search costs will decline and the result may be a more informed consumer and therefore the dispersion of prices may in turn narrow.       
b)     The importance of brand names will decrease
I don’t agree with this one. Brands have been important to modern cultures for such a long time and their importance transcends the purchase process and the purchase methods. I am not saying that I agree with it but brand names influence social standing, self esteem and inturn purchases regardless of the sale medium.     
This short film is an interesting look at brand names, it is around 15min long (but very funny) and is probably rated at least M15 (frequent course language) but as you watch you will see that brands are forever burned into our psyche. It is interesting to see the characterisation of  brands and the metaphoric way that certain brands have been portrayed. well worth a watch!   



c)      Price competition will make all products cheaper
My feelings about this one are based on the answer I gave for the first part of this question. Just as the price dispersion may not necessarily narrow because of a multitude of factors, the same could be said for over all prices and wether they will go up or down. There are so many factors that come into the price that one consumer is willing to pay for any given product. I think the simple fact that the overheads for online markets are generally so much lower than those of traditional outlets that there will be a drop in the cost of shopping online in comparison to shopping in-store.    
d)     Digital markets will become dominated by a handful of mega-sites like Amazon.com
I think that this is a real possibility. And in some ways is already starting to happen. Sites such as iTunes, Amazon and EBay are already taking so much of the market share and I think it is because of their ability to reach the broadest cross section of users in relation to the computer literacy of those users. If we look at all of these sites they are all simple to use and have built up a trust with online shoppers. As was stated by Smith, Bailey &  Brynjolfsson (1999) a recent Xerox study that found that just 5% of the websites online receive nearly 75% of the hits.    
e)      How do you think the balance of power between buyers and sellers will change
There is an assumed answer here I think. That being, that with the increase of choice online and the huge reach a buyer now has, that the balance of power will shift to give the consumer more power, the power to ‘choice’. I think that while this is true, the basic fundamentals of marketing and customer service will still remain the drivers of success for any business. That essentially the power will remain with the sellers who market themselves well and make the consumer feel that they need what the seller is selling.       
f)       Prices are clustered online
To answer this question I just started to look on line for different products to buy and from what I have seen I don’t think that prices are clustered online. The obvious main reason for the diversity is again, the product heterogeneity. A search for flat screen televisions reveals a price range from $200 to $1000’s but there are so many different products displayed that it is difficult to draw comparisons between prices.     
g)      Online prices are elastic
I really don’t think that any price regardless of the medium is truly elastic. Demand has always been and always will be the driver for price.
h)     Online prices are generally transparent.
I don’t think that I could say prices online are transparent. This is such a massive topic to be discussed in one paragraph. The word ‘prices’ in this context is impossible to generalise in such a manner as to draw a conclusion on the transparency of such. The simple fact that the product and service range online is so extensive gives rise to a comparatively extensive answer. I do think that if the products are known and understood by consumers, that there is some degree of transparency, due to the ability to compare prices of homogeneous products.
Question 3
a)      What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?
Telstra – the ability to check how much data I am using through my mobile phone through an application (Bigpond) on my iphone. I can also download many free things or watch free TV which Telstra has in combination with other partners (eg. Sunrise). I can check my bill and my account details. This is the extent of what Telstra – i.e. my cell phone provider – offers.  

b)     Which of these services do you use?
I regularly check how much data I use on my mobile, to ensure that I do not go over the amount allocated per month – this is about all I use through the cell phone provider.

c)      What types of transactions do you perform through your cell phone or other wireless device?
·         Internet banking
·         Ebay
·         Google maps
·         Email
·         Facebook
·         Checking weather

d)     What types of transactions would you like to perform, but are currently unable to?
I would like to be able to look at a restaurant online, check availability of bookings at the present or future time, make a booking, view the menu and wine lists, and have the option of pre-ordering food. This can be done to an extent now (bookings via email etc), but not often in real time.

e)      What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing?
In the case of SMS marketing, I find it intrusive and annoying and I have never taken up any offer made in an SMS.
In the case of mobile marketing on your mobile. When I decide to transact through my mobile, I am generally going to do one thing and I know what it is I am after. Along with this I am busy (hence using my mobile as opposed to going to a computer), therefore leading to me not generally undertaking any offers which come up on my mobile. When I transact through my desktop computer things are much different and I sometimes take an interest in the advertising which I am shown.

References
Smith, M., Bailey, J. & E, Brynjolfsson (1999). Understanding Digital Markets:
Review and Assessment Paper 140