llaboration between several players. The key players that are involved in m-commerce are financial institutions (banks, credit card companies), mobile network operators, government (legislative and regulative), device manufactures and customers (payer). They all not only play a critical role, but also contribute to the overall value chain and at the same time have some expectation from m-commerce as shown in Table 9.3. At the same time, it Next Generation Mobile Communications Ecosystem Table 9.2 M-commerce applications Applications Category Examples Advertising and Promotion Sending user and location specific ads and coupons Financial Applications B2C, B2B Mobile banking, brokerage, auctions and mobile payments Shopping B2C, B2B Store location, in store navigation, comparison shopping, product verification, replacement of loyalty cards Entertainment Movie tickets, Pay per view Traveling Ferry, taxi and train fares, Toll tickets, Airline tickets Location based services Local maps, local weather, local offers Product life cycle Ordering, delivery confirmation, stock control, authentication, supply chain information is important to note that there is no single global standard that addresses the payment process associated with m-commerce. The m-commerce arena is crowded with tens of forums and SDOs and what is missing is an "active collaboration" piece of the puzzle. Some of these forums are operator driven (ETSI, UMTS), others are bank driven (Mobey forum), device manufacturer driven (Mobile Electronic Transactions), technology driven (OMA), and while some are cross industry driven (Mobile Payment Forum). Table 9.3 M-commerce (MC) players Players Contributions Expectations Customer Monetary Support Fast and Secure transactions Personalize Service Minimal Learning Curve No Hidden Costs Being able to pay "anywhere," "anytime" and in any currency Merchant Merchandise Support Fast and Secure transactions Minimal Investment Cost Real-time status of transactions Mobile Network Provider Customer Base Potential to add valu