An Electronic Commerce System Structure

The figure shows the structure of a traditional e-commerce system and a typical example of such a system. The structure includes four components, some of which are at least partly shared by mobile commerce systems:

• Electronic commerce applications: The applications are numerous, including auctions, banking, marketplaces and exchanges, news, recruiting, and retailing, to name but a few.


• Client computers: Desktop computers are used for electronic commerce, whereas handheld devices are used for mobile commerce.


• Wired networks: This component is the major difference between electronic commerce and mobile commerce; the latter must also include wireless networks.


• Host computers:A user request such as database accesses or updating is actually processed at a host computer, which includes a Web server and a database server.