Exploring Fog and Edge Computing Developments and their Suitability for Mobile Commerce

Fog and edge computing, as extensions of cloud computing, have emerged as transformative paradigms to address the unique demands of current generation computing. The technology, even though ground breaking, is restricted to IoT based applications. Another technology which has created a revolution and widely used by most of the population is Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce). This technology can make use of fog/edge computing because of the latter’s ultra-low latency, real-time responsiveness, location-awareness, and context-aware computing. This review is an exploration of the technological capabilities of Fog/Edge as of now. The work examines a comprehensive range of research efforts, organized into key themes: resource allocation and workload distribution, architectural innovations, QoS and costefficiency enhancements, security and privacy issues, and industry case studies. By processing data closer to mobile users—at the edge or via intermediary fog nodes—these technologies significantly reduce latency, improve operational efficiency, and enhance customer experiences in M-Commerce applications. The survey further outlines the challenges and future directions for adopting fog and edge computing in M-Commerce, emphasizing their critical role in enabling scalable, secure, and context-aware mobile services in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.