The Mobile Age
Mobile phones are pretty useful things, and these days almost everyone has one. Palm handhelds and other digital devices are also increasing in number, even outside the business world.
Mobile devices are becoming constant companions for many people and, because of this, they are also turning into multi-purpose devices. Phones these days come with calculators, diaries, phonebooks, reminder alarms, text messaging, and access to the Internet (how many of these additional functions are used is a whole other story). However, the limitations of mobile devices also make them hard to use for some tasks and certainly impractical for others. Some also become a lot larger in size--Nokia's Communicator 9110i, for instance, isn't exactly small.
And then there is the world of internet shopping, although the current impact of e-commerce is yet to be fully determined, it will change the way many people go about buying goods and accessing services.
So what do you get when you send e-commerce out on the road, accessible by a mobile phone? M-commerce, of course.
Mobile commerce is a category that incorporates any kind of digital payment system wirelessly, so this means that m-commerce also includes laptops and any other devices that are portable and can be connected to the 'Net to transact.
The promises are great, pay for your train fare quickly and automatically as you walk through the turnstile - no queues, or order the latest CD on the way home on the bus - you don't even have to go into the shop. However, there's a limit to how much can be done with m-commerce and at this stage it's probably more to do with the usability and technology of such devices than anything else. I wouldn't buy clothes online because I couldn't see them or try them on, but I would order a CD online or be told where the closest location is that stocks that CD.
Even for the wired world, transacting online has many pros and cons and, from our experience, is rarely done well. Issues like poor usability, trust, security and fulfilment make most online shopping a chore. These are often made harder for mobile devices and the limitations associated with them.
We decided to look at three aspects of the approaching m-commerce revolution; the market, the technology and the usability. We also look at some examples of how the technology is being demonstrated and used by those at the cutting edge.
Back to M-commerce Special: Coming soon to a mobile near you
