Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce
Vol. 9, No. 1, November 2003

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EDITORIAL
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By Gord Jenkins
Editor-in-Chief
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-Edit.htm

It might seem unusual that an editor of a journal about Internet
and banking
would have - as the Australians say - a good winge about spam.
However, I believe it
is not security or authentication or privacy that is the biggest
threat to Internet
banking and commerce - it is spam. Spam is in your mailbox right now
- more than
likely the first thing you do on your business day is clear out the
spam mail that
ingeniously found its way into the sanctity of your mailbox.

There are a number of aspects to this insidious invasion.

First we all ignored it - spam was a nuisance that had to be put up
with. Some of
those Nigerian spam mails were at first quite funny! Then they
started to slow down
not just you as a nuisance - but also your ISP. And for that matter
the whole Internet
infrastructure.

Next we found we could not buy software to effectively defend us
against spam.
We were defenseless.

Then we found our ISPs did not give a damn - every time I complained
to my
large phone utility ISP about it, I was logged "as a service call".
Only reluctantly have
ISPs put in anti-spam software for their clients, and than it is not
that effective.

Then, in an ironic twist, the legitimate users - such as the email
edition of this
journal, were marked as spam by an "outsourced anti-spam enforcer" of
another
large phone utility which boasts the zero tolerance policy but does
little to cut the
real spam

U.S. government departments and soon other governments and
businesses and
- yes even the pillars of banking - such as SWIFT and Identrus will
be not receiving
spam -of course not - but will be feeling the effects of this
Internet infection.

In short, spam is the AIDS of the Internet - overlooked - denied by
some as "not
a problem" but just as serious and insidious as AIDS. Spam is the
killer application -
killer of Internet banking and killer of Internet commerce. Maybe as
Editor I should
suggest we change "Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce" to
"Journal of Spam"
- at least I would not have to worry about "distribution numbers".


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REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS
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MALAYSIA: Evaluation of Internet Banking Sites in Islamic Countries
(by Balachandher Krishnan Guru, Bala Shanmugam, Nafis Alam, and
Corrine. J. Perera)
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-01.htm

Banks worldwide are now moving rapidly to an era of technological
change.
Customers are exposed to various options available in the internet
banking web sites
such as online banking, transfer funds, creation of new banking
products and etc.
While many banks, especially in Europe and the U.S., have adopted
internet banking,
this study shows that the majority of Islamic countries are still in
the early stages of
developing internet banking. Only some Islamic banks in the Middle
East have well-
developed internet banking web sites for the convenience of their
customers.
However, since they are still in the infancy stage, there is still
room for improvement.

UNITED KINGDOM: Virtual Law - Will virtual identity converge or
diverge?
(by Dave Birch)
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-05.htm

Some of the differences (conflicts, even) between real and virtual
identity are
thrown into sharp relief in the world of online games, where vast
virtual worlds are
already inhabited by millions of virtual characters. While they might
be only games,
they may contain some real insights into the future relationship
between real and
virtual identities.

FINLAND: Cell Sailors - An Educational Program Aimed at Mature
Customers on How
to Use Mobil Services
(by Minna Mattila and Anja Harkonen)
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-08.htm

This paper focuses on describing a mature consumer education program
as a
marketing tool. Also, mature customers' mobile service usage is
discussed. Although
mature market is very heterogeneous, the desire for information and
education is a
common characteristic for it. By targeting consumer education
programs to mature
consumers, marketers can help in satisfying this desire. The data of
this paper was
gathered in Finland during spring 2003 by using non-participatory
observation as a
research method. 

FRANCE: Enhance Internet Banking Service Quality with Quality
Function Deployment
Approach
(by Jean-Michel Sahut)
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-09.htm

Internet banking providers tend to introduce to consumers as many
services as
possible very often without knowing what the customers really want
and expect from
them. Within the traditional banking environment it was almost
impossible to monitor
and record data on second-by-second actions and interactions with the
customers.

The fact is that the electronic environment allows Internet banking
providers to
capture enormous amount of information about customer behaviour
during the whole
process of service consumption and to collect their opinions and
requirements in
different forms.

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a distinguished product and
service design
technique primary oriented to deliver "voice of the customer"
throughout every single
planning and design activity. Taking into account the trends of
moving the banking
products and services online, this paper demonstrates the application
of QFD to
Internet banking and it outlines the links among service quality
management, its
concepts, and tools and Internet banking services.

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FEATURE ARTICLES
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USA: XML: Future of E-Content Business: The Impact of XML on
Entertainment and
Media
(by Xiaorui Hu and Yuhong Wu))
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-03.htm

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has grown dramatically in the past
decades
due to the rapid development of Internet technology. Entertainment
e-commerce has
been at the vanguard of the online retail revolution. However,
entertainment e-
commerce has experienced rapid change over the past years. In order
to be
successful in the business, entertainment companies are constantly
seeking efficient
mechanisms to attract customers and to provide individualized
services.

In this paper, we identify the XML (Extensible Markup Language), a
new type of
data structure standard on the Internet, as part of the backbone for
future e-content
business. XML offers solutions to the success of the e-content
business and provides
support for entertainment e-commerce. The benefits of XMLs features
on the e-
content business are identified and investigated in detail, and the
challenges posted
by the transition to XML are discussed.

USA: Some Free, Some Fee: The Emerging Business Model for e-Content
Sites
(by Meg Murray and Ravi Narayanswamy)
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-04.htm

The rapid emergence of E-commerce with its competitive
characteristics has
transformed the business landscape. In its short life span of little
more than a
decade, the Internet marketplace has already seen a dramatic cycle of
high peaks and
low valleys. E-content sites, whose primary product is information,
have had the most
difficulty sustaining profitability.

There is a definite trend occurring away from the totally free
content site to the
hybrid model of charging for some e-content fittingly termed the some
free - some
fee model. The some free - some fee model is one approach that will
enable online
e-content businesses to create revenue while still offering free
content to which many
Web users have become accustomed. Understanding the underlying
principles of, and
the movement towards, the some free - some fee model will assist
e-content
organizations in the transformation of their business model to ensure
their
survivability in the volatile Internet marketplace.

MALAYSIA: The Role of e-Commerce in the 21st Century
(by Mohammed Tahla and Abdullah Sallehhuddin Abdullah Salim)
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-06.htm

Technological breakthrough in such areas as fax machines, telephone,
video
player, audio devices and televisions took many years to
commercialize and measure
their impacts on business. Compared to these breakthroughs,
telecommunications,
information communication technology, miniaturization, computers and
Internet went
through shorter product life styles and achieved widespread diffusion
and reformed
the nature of business operation and enhanced competitive business
environment
instantly. This technological advancement has resulted in evolution
and innovation of
many products, services and business processes. One of them is the
emergence of e-
commerce or electronic commerce.

The explanatory and conceptual paper presents the ways in which
e-commerce
give information to the consumers. It further highlights some
critical issues in e-
commerce, suggestion and future strategies for e-commerce in years to
come.

AUSTRALIA: Online Shopping: Advantages Over The Offline Alternative
(by Joshua Chang)
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-07.htm

The advent of the Internet as a shopping medium has enabled shoppers
to gain
shopping benefits such as convenience and time-saving, better
information, and
price savings. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of
the benefits of
Internet shopping by identifying and discussing the advantages of
Internet shopping
over traditional storefront shopping.

USA: The Emergence of Interdependent e-Commerce Constructs
(by Abel Stephen)
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-10.htm

This paper represents the findings of research studies that address
e-
commerce design and associated consumer behavior. The innovation of
e-commerce
has affected not only the marketplace through the facilitation of the
exchange of
goods and services, but also human behavior in response to the
mechanisms of
online services.

Researchers have identified and hypothesized on relevant subject
matters
ranging from Web usability, marketing channels and other factors
influencing online
buying behavior. Though researchers have focused on what appear
different aspects
of online buying behavior, their studies may be shown to be
interrelated and
interdependent, even to the extent of revealing constructs upon which
e-commerce,
in terms of future design and research, could be built.

USA: Why Big Banks Must Deal in this New Name-Economy
(by Naseem Javed)
http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/0311-11.htm

Only yesterday, the image of a bank was of a Roman arch, huge
columns, and
people working behind bars. Today, the banks and financial
institutions are in your
pockets, humming palm-pilots, buzzing laptops all working quietly
and completing
complex transactions round the clock.

Banks were the first to discover globalization and true e-commerce,
way before
these words even came into our daily lingo. Today, they are not
only caught in a
highly competitive inter-global marketplace but also are stuck with a
lot of old-
fashioned twisted names and ancient iconography.


====================
Administrative Notice
====================

Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce

JIBC is a leading edge publication that informs banking and
electronic commerce
professionals and executives on principal developments, benchmark
practices, and
future trends in the Internet-based marketing practices of
governments and industry.
This free online interactive journal is a way to keep in touch, to
share information,
and to establish business contacts (networking) for worldwide
professionals that
specialize in electronic commerce and banking solutions.