Date of Award

11-2004

Type

Thesis

Major

Computer Science - Applied Computing Track

Department

TSYS School of Computer Science

First Advisor

Stan Kurkovsky

Abstract

Mobile devices are now powerful systems and are the main vehicles for m- commerce. Market research predicts enormous potential for m-commerce applications and services [9], [10], [11], [12]. Unique features such as portability, location-awareness and personalization make mobile devices effective tools for targeted advertising. Several mobile marketing frameworks have been designed that deliver promotions based on location information and user preferences [3], [4], [5]. These frameworks have several drawbacks that need to be addressed in order to be effective. The aim of this thesis is to research a simple and efficient framework for targeted and personalized advertising. This work presents SMMART, a context-aware, adaptive and personalized m- commerce application designed to deliver targeted promotions to the users of mobile devices. SMMART delivers personalized promotional information based on context and the preferences of the user by matching the user's shopping interests to current promotions available at a retail store. SMMART analyzes the user's shopping habits and dynamically adapts to the changing interests of its user. SMMART does not reveal any private information about the user to the stores and does not require additional devices such as a GPS Receiver or a Bluetooth Sensor in order to work effectively. SMMART uses XML web services for client/server communication over a Wi-Fi wireless network. This work includes a brief study of several mobile marketing frameworks and a description of the SMMART framework architecture. We then describe a fully functional prototype of SMMART built for Pocket PCs running Windows CE with .NET Compact in Framework that uses XML Web Services for communication with a SMMART Server. We also present a simulation model to justify the economic feasibility of SMMART [1]. The purpose of this thesis is to research and develop a novel and efficient approach to mobile marketing and to illustrate our work through a fully functional prototype and a justification of the economic feasibility of the framework. This thesis also provides possible directions for future research.

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