مجله مدیریت مالی چند ملیتی – Journal of Multinational Financial Management

Smartphones are becoming central to our everyday lives. Their main purpose is to fulfil tasks both at home and at work. Skierkowski and Wood (2012) stated that mobile phones are also very important in our lives. Mobile phones – known as cell phones by people – have become the fastest communication device around the world. Their developed versions are nearly replacing computers and they are pocket size. These properties are the biggest proof of why they are so important in our lives. Since 1996, one of the fastest growing novel technologies in the mobile phone market is a smartphone. Since its introduction, the numbers of smartphones have reached an estimated 1 billion and expected to reach 2 billion in 2015 (Rushton, 2012).

There are wide ranges of smartphones available for purchase such as Apple, Samsung, HTC, Blackberry, Sony, Nokia and many more. Each of the different brands has much to offer to suit the customers’ need and lifestyle. Furthermore, advanced mobile operating systems such as IOS, Android, and Windows as well as myriads of useful applications (Apps) have made the smartphone as must to have devices. The invention of the smartphone in general has brought many effects on our daily life, working tools, and learning process for students. One of the most important features required in smartphones is the Internet connection that enables them to have 24/7 connectivity through the mini browser or Apps for many purposes, which may include searching for information, connecting to a social network, or downloading music, video and related stuffs. All recent smartphones provide connection to the Internet along with cameras, video or audio players. On the other hand, supplier and business organizations can reach their customers through their smartphone easily and conveniently. Therefore, it is important to examine a future trend of the smartphone through the view of emerging big data technology.

The idea of big data came from the rapid growth of the volume of information that cannot be fit into the computers used to process them (Schönberger & Cukier, 2013). Therefore, what innovators did was that they invented computers or systems that are able to ef- ficiently process the vast amount of data. Big data are collected whether through online or offline. These data can be gained from any online sources such as social media (Facebook or Twitter posts, etc) which can be used for the organization’s use to understand the patterns made by the users or machines like smart metres e.g. recording how much energy consumption of electricity, water and even gas (Watson, 2014). This information amplifies the fact that data could be analysed and used to reveal patterns within the processed data. In other words, it could greatly help the organization to understand the habits of a customer and use it to their advantage; on the other hand, users may benefit from the comprehensive and appropriate information for their own decision-making (Low & Anshari, 2013).