Smart mobile devices are becoming increasingly essential daily companions. Applications (apps) are the interface through which the consumer can leverage unique capabilities of smart mobile devices to interact with people, other devices and firms via the supporting mobile ecosystem. Smart mobile devices and apps are influencing how competition is defined and changing how firms do business by improving internal processes and increasing flexibility and convenience for customers. Mobile apps and devices enable users to move from a portable and mobile communication and computing environment to that of a ubiquitous communication and computing environment [u-space]. Discussion in terms of ‘mobile marketing’ is therefore too limiting, our understanding should be ‘ubiquitous marketing’. Six papers explore ubiquitous marketing further. The retail sector provides a contextual setting for paper one and finds that mobile marketing increases value for retailers and consumers. Integration of all retailer / consumer interfaces with mobile marketing to maximise exposure and connectivity between both parties is recommended. Paper two investigates the sources for mobile app ideas in companies and finds that apps developed externally or within the firm with some outside help, were perceived to be more effective. Apps that leverage the mobile devices unique features is central to the methodology proposed for developing an app in paper three. The next three papers examine the impact that mobile apps and devices have on business activities and customer relationships. Paper four finds increased operational efficiency in a Dental  Practice, while paper five identified the opportunity for increased firm-customer interaction in a medical context. Paper six determines that rather than five dimensions of SERVQUAL, financial service quality of apps consists of three dimensions: Reliability, personal and visibles; and that service success can be derived from providing less service. This thesis contributes to a fuller understanding of U-commerce theory. It advances understanding in how apps are making significant changes in how information technology is managed and controlled from an organisational perspective, and how these technology advances can influence consumer interaction. / <p>QC 20160516</p>

Over 90% of faculty members in higher education have access to smart mobile devices. However, data are lacking about community college faculty members’ use of smart mobile devices and applications for instruction and content delivery. The purpose of this study was to examine Tennessee community college full-time faculty’s use of smart mobile devices, to determine if there were any significant differences in the mean scores measuring attitudes and use of smart mobile devices by generational age grouping, teaching discipline, rank, years of teaching and to determine if Tennessee community college faculty members who under-utilize mobile technologies for teaching also hold negative opinions about them. This study measured Tennessee Community College faculty use of smart mobile devices and their attitudes and use of smart mobile devices by generational age groups, teaching discipline, rank, and years of teaching. This study used quantitative, nonexperimental survey design. The survey instrument was an electronic questionnaire, consisting of 15 items that were divided into 7 dimensions. The dimensions were: Learning Preference, Institutional Training, Frequency, Attitude, Willingness to Attend PD Training, Willingness to Use, and Competence. Of the 267 possible participants, 93 (35%) responded to the survey. Data from the survey were used to analyze 5 research questions and 35 null hypotheses. Two research questions were analyzed using independent-samples t test 2 and 3 analyzed using one-way analysis of variance. Testing the null hypotheses associated with the 5 research questions resulted in 7 significant findings and 28 findings that were not significant. The findings indicated that there were significant differences in professional development training scores by generational age, and by academic rank. There were significant findings in learning preference by teaching discipline and training by teaching disciplines. Last, there were significant differences in some of the dimensions by years of experience. The results of this study may benefit administrators and educators in knowing what groups are open to professional development training for using smart mobile devices for instruction and in what areas to provide training.

No / Smart mobile devices, which are hand-held electronic devices with an advanced operating system (such as the Android platform) connected via a wireless protocol, have become an integral and essential part of our everyday life, and support both social and workplace activities. However, adopting mobile technology within the workplace setting can give rise to challenges that impact user behaviour and performance. A study was carried out amongst 90 participants located in two countries, using internet connectivity as a case study. Confidence and frustration have previously been connected with technology competence, but this was not applied to a workplace scenario during problem-solving, when users are assigned an unfamiliar smart mobile device. This research focuses on identifying the link between workplace users' levels of confidence and frustration when seeking to independently solve problems whilst completing familiar tasks on new smart mobile devices. A detailed video analysis of users' attitudes and behaviour during problem-solving was conducted, emphasising a correlation between attitudes and behaviour towards completing a task.