Mobile commerce in the automobile industry

E-commerce continues to grow but will not mature until it becomes truly mobile - information available anywhere, anytime and to anybody. Applying mobile access to computing creates both tremendous commercial opportunities and complexity. It is becoming increasingly portable, as well as convenient as wireless terminals can be installed in automobile dashboards and embedded in all manner of everyday appliances. Automobile manufacturers are beginning to offer wireless services to drivers but most in-car-communications capabilities are still basic. Two primary areas of telematics are on-board telematics (CD ROM) and call centre telematics. It is a big potential market for car manufacturers as millions of drivers spend many hours in their cars. However, the greatest challenges to the growth of mobile commerce are security and privacy issues and hence the lack of consumer confidence in mobile network security.