The Role of Mobile Agents in M-Commerce

Mobile agents are self-contained processes, dispatched by their principal, roaming the Internet to access data and services, and carrying out their decision-making and problem-solving tasks remotely. M-commerce, the traditional E-commerce combined with mobile devices and wireless networks, is likely to become a major business model in the near future. Due to the flexibility and mobility, mobile agent based M-commerce can complement the existing client/server based E-commerce model to enable consumers to conduct business without time and space restrictions. This paper proposes a system infrastructure for M-commerce applications. The proposal benefits mobile consumers who wish to access a wide choice of products and services on an anywhere and anytime basis.