ment applications. Wireless network signals are broadcast over the public airwaves, making them vulnerable to hacking and interception. Being small and portable, mobile devices can be easily stolen or lost, putting the data stored in them at constant risk of falling M-Police into the wrong hands. Disclosing critical personal information on wireless Internet and location-based services makes citizens more concerned of privacy issues in m-government.

There are a number of inherent limitations for usability of wireless networked devices such as small screens and keypads. Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) phones can only access sites that are written in WML, which is not compatible with HTML. This means e-government Web sites must be rewritten in WML and have just enough information to fit the small screens of wireless devices. Time to translate HTML-

WML along with the lack of enough broadband slows the access speed. Limited computational power and memory, shorter battery life, poor display resolution, and limited Web browsing ability are other limitations in using m-devices.

Accessibility and interoperability are also challenges. Wireless Internet access is still costly and the coverage area of existing wireless networks is limited. In the U.S. and throughout the world, a large number of areas do not have Wi-Fi or fixed broadband connectivity. The new technology of WiMAX (which is fixed broadband wireless technology) promises to offer standardization, interoperability, and lower cost. The cities of San Francisco and Philadelphia are planning to offer WiMAX wireless Internet connections for everyone, either with a very low cost or for free.

Applications

SMS alerting services

G2C SMS notifications ( Government-to-Citizen)

Government Agencies

Hong Kong

Singapore

Download non- Japan legally binding content

Description

- Text messages to mobile phone users during SARS

- Provide parking ticket reminders, national service obligations, and passport renewal notification

- Download information on tourism, disaster prevention, and child rearing

Parking enforcement IEE (Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness)

M-local tax management system

Korea - Police officers retrieve information using mobile devices

- Print tickets on the spot

Anyang, Korea - Parking inspectors collect parking lot information using PDAs

- Print receipts on the spot

Uijeongbu and Kunsan, Korea - Allow officers to access tax information on the spot

- Transfer the data to the local tax database

Table 3. Examples of m-government applications in Asia.

dard (AES). As the number of wireless users continues to increase, issues are resolved, and technology advances, more innovative m-government applications will emerge and m-government will become an increasingly important aspect of government functions. c

 

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CONCLUSION M-government has demonstrated great potential and shown a promising future. There is no doubt that m-government will be a part of the trend of m-commerce becoming a major part of the proliferating e-commerce in the private sector. As wireless technology rapidly advances, some of the technical obstacles for m-government could be overcome soon. Fourth Generation (4G) technology along with better wireless Internet access technologies will offer increased bandwidth for faster wireless access to the Web. More security features are becoming available, such as the Advanced Encryption Stan-

SILVANA TRIMI ( [e-mail]) is an associate professor of
Management Information Systems at the University of Nebraska–
Lincoln.
HONG SHENG ( [e-mail]) is an assistant professor in the
Department of Business Administration at the University of
Missouri-Rolla.

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