Computer and Internet have changed the way business is conducted the world over. No aspect of business has remained untouched by the information technology (IT) revolution. This is especially true of international business where people located in different parts of the world conduct transactions with each other.
Any discussion on IT will be incomplete without analysing telecommunications. Today cell phone numbers have overtaken fixed landlines. There has been a tremendous growth in cell phone users. According to the figures released by a research organisation, there are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers (that’s 77 percent of the world population).
Growth is led by China and India. Mobile devices sales rose in 2010, while smart phone sales showed the strongest growth, Nokia remains number one in both smart phones and mobile phones. But there are regional variations most owned brand of phone in W. Europe is Nokia; in the US is Samsung; and in Japan is Sharp. Feature phones sales (let alone ownership) still outnumber smart phones 4:1.
Image Source: davenportcorp.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
China Mobile Communications is a wireless winner with 450 million subscribers and is the largest mobile network operator worldwide in terms of subscribers and revenues (ahead of China Unicom at home and surpassing UK-based wireless giant Vodafone Group on the global stage).
In addition to mobile voice and data services in China, it offers international roaming access through agreements with network operators worldwide. The company is controlled by China’s Ministry of Information Industry. It will be interesting to note that mobile operators in developed countries could run out of profit in the next two to four years if they do not change their business models.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Half a billion people accessed mobile Internet worldwide in 2009. Usage is expected to double within five years as mobile overtakes the PC as the most popular way to get on the Web. But with 277 million mobile Web users just in China, this estimate is sounding a bit conservative.
Many mobile Web users are mobile-only, i.e. they do not, or very rarely use a desktop, laptop or tablet to access the Web. Mobile-only in Egypt is 70 percent, India 59 percent, even in the US its 25 percent of subscribers.
By 2011, over 85 percent of new handsets will be able to access the mobile Web. Today in US and W. Europe, 90 percent of mobile subscribers have an Internet-ready phone.
Please note that this does not mean smart phones – you do not need a smart phone for a richer experience to access the mobile Web (but it does make for). Almost one in five global mobile subscribers have access to fast mobile Internet (3G or better) services and the number of 3G handsets is growing fast.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
While very high 3G handset penetration helps to keep Japan at the pinnacle of mobile Web, very low 3G penetration in China hasn’t stopped rapid growth. Widespread availability of unlimited data plans is critical to penetration of mobile media usage, it drove mobile media in Japan, now it’s driving the US; but in W. Europe, lack of availability is holding up progress.
1 billion people will access financial services by mobile by 2015. The MFS market will be dominated Asia, driven by mobile operator-led initiatives in developing nations to bank the unbanked. Remittance/transfers by mobile is growing three times faster than m-banking.
50 percent of the world’s mobile subscribers could be paying by mobile (m-payments) by 2014. Japan sets the precedent for m-payment—10 percent of Japanese mobile subscribers paid by mobile in December alone.
M-commerce is predicted to reach US$119 billion in 2015, Japan remains king. Top m-commerce retailers globally include: Taobao, Amazon and eBay. On eBay alone, consumers bought and sold over US$2 billion worth of merchandise through mobile in 2010. M-ticketing will be used by more than 1 in 10 mobile subscribers in 2014, particularly in the transport sector.
Table 13.2: World Internet Usage and Population Statistics:
| World Regions | Population (2010 Est.) | Internet Users Dec. 31, 2000 | Internet Users Latest Data | Penetration (% Population) | Growth 2000-2010 | Users %of Table |
| Africa | 1,013,779,050 | 4,514,400 | 110,931,700 | 10.9% | 2,357.3 % | 5.6 % |
| Asia | 3,834,792,852 | 114,304,000 | 825,094,396 | 21.5 % | 621.8 % | 42.0 % |
| Europe | 813,319,511 | 105,096,093 | 475,069,448 | 58.4 % | 352.0 % | 24.2 % |
| Middle East | 212,336,924 | 3,284,800 | 63,240,946 | 29.8 % | 1,825.3 % | 3.2 % |
| North America | 344,124,450 | 108,096,800 | 266,224,500 | 77.4 % | 146.3% | 13.5% |
| Latin America/ Caribbean | 592,556,972 | 18,068,919 | 204,689,836 | 34.5 % | 1,032.8 % | 10.4% |
| Oceania / Australia | 34,700,201 | 7,620,480 | 21,263,990 | 61.3 % | 179.0% | 1.1 % |
| WORLD TOTAL | 6,845,609,960 | 360,985,492 | 1,966,514,816 | 28.7 % | 444.8 % | 100.0% |
A recent comparison survey between Japan, US and Europe, show that the Japanese are still much more advanced in mobile behavior, with 55.4 percent and 53.3 percent using apps, compared to 36.4 percent and 34.4 percent in the US and 28.8 percent and 28.0 percent in Europe. Despite all the media hype, and vast sums pumped into developing and promoting native apps, more consumers use their browser than apps in developed nations.
Only a minority will use Web or apps exclusively. Most popular activities on the mobile Web are mobile search, reading news and sports information, downloading music and videos, and email and instant messages. In the future, money transfer; location-based services; m-health and m-payment will be key drivers. Over 300,000 mobile apps have been developed in three years.
Apps have been downloaded 10.9 billion times. But demand for download mobile apps is expected to peak in 2013. The most used mobile apps in the US are games; news; maps; social networking and music. Face book, Google Maps and The Weather Channel (TWC) rule. The average download price of a mobile app is falling rapidly on all vendor app stores, except Android. And 1 in 4 mobile apps once downloaded are never used again
The activities of international business include manufacturing, inland transportation, customs and excise matters, port operation, shipping, clearing and forwarding, marketing, etc. During the course of these transactions, a large number of documents are created and exchanged, many of these documents or the information contained therein is repeated, while creating and mailing these documents before the advent of IT, hundreds of man-hours would be lost in repetitive operation, innovations in IT have revolutionised international business; the use of technology in managing and processing information. Especially in large organisations helps save time, bring down costs, and reduce manpower, manual data input and transfer has now become not only obsolete, but also irrational.