Mobile.Information.and.Entertainment.Services

The mobile services discussed in this research are limited to mobile information and entertainment
services. As depicted in Figure 1, mobile information and entertainment services
(category 2) are a subset of the broader category of mobile services (category 1), which are
simply services made available to mobile users independent of the type of network (GPS,
public switched mobile network, etc.). As defined here, mobile information and entertainment
services require a connection to a network, which is in turn connected to the Internet.
Currently, the dominant mode of access is through the mobile telecommunications network
infrastructure connected to the fixed public switched network.
We define �mobile information and entertainment services� as the delivery of information
and entertainment from specially formatted content sources (e.g., Internet sites, SMS, MMS)
via the mobile telecommunication network to a mobile user. The terms �value added services
in mobile commerce� and �mobile information and entertainment services� are often used synonymously. What is important is that parties other than the network operator are involved
to make the service available to customers.
In this research we also consider information and entertainment services that are based on
location information. The use of location information has the potential to enable a whole
range of new services and requires the involvement of a new kind of actor such as geographical
information system (GIS) suppliers. In general location-based services can be offered
through the mobile telecommunications network (category 3), independent of this network
(4), and also in a fixed environment (5). Of interest to this research are services offered in
the domain of category 2 (mobile information and entertainment services) and category 3
(location-based mobile services) offered over the mobile telecommunications network