Diffusion and competitive relationship of mobile telephone service in Guatemala: An empirical analysis

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the characteristics of diffusion process of mobile telephone service and the competitive relationships between mobile and fixed-line services in Guatemalan telecommunications market. We investigated the best-suited model to explain the diffusion process of mobile telephone in Guatemala by estimating diffusion curves using empirical data. Moreover, we explored affecting factors which characterize the diffusion pattern of mobile telephony in Guatemala through statistical analysis. Finally, in order to understand the effects of competition in the diffusion process of Guatemalan mobile phone service, we attempted to clarify the competitive relationship between mobile and fixed-line services using the Lotka-Volterra model. As a result, the logistic model was found to be the best model for describing the diffusion pattern. Moreover, investment in telecommunications, the subscribers of fixed-line services, and the number of operators in mobile market were found as significant determinants of mobile diffusion process. Results from the Lotka-Volterra model showed that the relationship between mobile and fixed-line services has changed from pure competition to amensalism.     

基于Android平台的校园导航系统的设计

本文将GIS技术与智能手机结合,以兰州资源环境职业技术学院为例,提出基于Android平台的校园导航系统的设计和实现方案。本系统可利用手机Android平台直观全面的了解校园环境,使新生、家长或者前来参观的人员借助校园导航系统尽快熟悉学校环境,该系统对学院的招生、宣传等方面的工作起到重要的推动作用。     

Switching behavior of U.S. mobile phone service customers after providers shift from contract to no contract mobile phone service plans

The study examines the impact of the recent shift of the mobile phone service providers in the U.S., from contract to no contract mobile phone service offerings, on the switching behavior of customers in different age groups. Consistent with previous research, the findings ascertain that switching barriers related to relational benefits, availability and attractiveness of alternatives, service recovery and retention in the mobile phone industry are perceived differently by customers in different age groups. However, counter to previous research in the retail banking industry, the research finds that younger customers in the mobile phone service industry are more likely to perceive relational benefits, the effort providers exert to recover a service and are less likely to switch to other providers than older customers. The research findings have implications to theory and practice.     

Managing passengers’ experience through mobile moments

Travelers' experience is dramatically affected by the use of digital technologies. On the one side, travel companies use them to support management and marketing practices with the purpose of fostering efficiency and ultimately increase competitiveness. On the other side, travelers heavily rely on their digital devices to organize, personalize and to a certain extent ‘live’ their travelling experience. Within this scenario, mobile devices are seen from both ends as crucial mean for location and context based interactive communication. Mobile devices are here discussed as personalization tool for leisure air passengers' experiential journey in an airport starting from customers' journey analysis, along with information sources used within the whole journey.     

“Nomads at last”? A set of perspectives on how mobile technology may affect travel

This paper’s goal is to propose a set of perspectives on how mobile phones and computers might affect travel: by tapping into basic needs of travellers; by affecting some preconditions for its spatial configuration; and by altering its costs and benefits. In the age of “digital nomadism,” mobile technology is likely to play an important role for the new mobility and work-life arrangements put into practice by a multitude of creative knowledge professionals. What emerges from our multi-perspective exploration is the realisation that mobile technology might offer people numerous new reasons to be mobile: by making them more informed; more capable of using a larger variety of physical spaces and re-negotiating obligations in real-time; and potentially more efficient in the allocation of their travel time and resources. On the other hand, it also appears that mobile technology can impose new burdens on travellers and make travel less appealing in some ways. Additional research is called for to improve our understanding of the circumstances under which each of these opposing outcomes occurs. The findings from such research could be used to better calibrate traffic simulation models, as well as to weigh the implications of emerging forms of travel behaviour for the environment.     

The role of governance in mobile phones for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study assesses the synergy effects of governance in mobile phone penetration for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa with data for the period 2000–2012. It employs a battery of interactive estimation techniques, namely: Fixed effects, Generalised Method of Moments and Tobit regressions. Concepts of political (voice and accountability and political stability/no violence), economic (government effectiveness and regulation quality) and institutional (corruption-control and rule of law) governance are employed. The following findings are established. The previously apparent positive correlation between mobile phones and inclusive development can be extended to a positive effect. Although political governance is overwhelmingly not significant across estimated models, the average effects from economic governance are higher relative to institutional governance. On the interactions between mobile phones and governance variables, while none are apparent in Fixed effects regressions, there are significant synergy effects in Generalised Method of Moments and Tobit estimations, notably, from: regulation quality in the former and political stability, voice and accountability and rule of law in the latter. There is consistent evidence of convergence in inclusive human development. Policy implications are discussed.     

Channels for search and purchase: Does mobile Internet matter?

Recent industry reports indicate that consumers own four digital devices on an average, and switching devices during shopping is the “new normal.” The addition of mobile Internet as a new channel of search and purchase has spurred the adoption of the digital medium, and easy accessibility of the Internet on multiple devices is influencing shopping patterns. A consumer may prefer some channels for search and others for purchase or use a combination of channels to search and purchase simultaneously. As a new channel, it is unclear 1) whether mobile Internet offers greater search or purchase benefits and 2) what type of products are more suitable for mobile Internet search and purchase. In this study, we develop a framework that describes the factors that drive the use of mobile Internet in a multi-channel environment. We test the framework using survey data from a sample of U.S consumers. The main findings from our study indicate that 1) the choice of channel combinations that include mobile relative to other channel combinations increases with an increase in perceived search convenience of mobile channel. 2) in the digital channel, mobile and desktop differ in their utility along search dimensions. The probability of choosing channel combinations that include mobile increases due to search convenience whereas desktop is attractive due to perceived gains of price comparison search; and 3) mobile Internet search increases for consumers searching for utilitarian products. The insights from this study deepen our understanding of how digital media is used in the search-purchase process and have important managerial implications.     

Link between termination rates and retail prices in Namibia,Kenya and South Africa

This paper analyses the link between mobile termination rate reductions and retail prices. It draws on in-depth case studies of South Africa, Namibia and Kenya where regulators have reduced termination rates towards the cost of an efficient operator. To varying degrees these have all led to lower retail prices and significant market expansion. While retail prices in both Namibia and Kenya dropped following substantial termination rate reductions, the South African case demonstrates that termination rate reductions are not always passed on to consumers as is hoped by such regulatory interventions. In South Africa, it was only after the second reduction in March 2012 that smaller operators were able to reduce their off-net prices to a level that could tempt the subscribers to dominant operators to switch. All the case studies confirm nevertheless that retail prices do not go up in response to termination rates going down as contended by dominant mobile operators around the world. This is in contrast to a body of literature stating that termination rates and mobile retail prices constitute a two-sided market and that termination rate reductions will lead to a so-called “waterbed effect”.