Implications for Management

Consumer-oriented m-commerce is becoming a reality today. Many businesses and consumers are taking up the wireless Web through many services, such as AT&T, Sprint PCS, Verizon Wireless, Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, and other wireless service providers. Personalizing, localizing, and customizing the content and services to the individual needs of the mobile device users is the key to success of its commercialization. This focus on relevancy (i.e., showing customers what they can do to enhance productivity and add convenience in their daily lives) represents a theoretical change for equipment makers and carriers and proves that a more conservative marketplace can embrace technology en masse only when it is relevant for the majority of unique users.

It will still take a few years for consumer-oriented m-commerce applications to become as generally available as the wired Web is today. In the near term, the most promising opportunities for mobile wireless transactions are those built for industrial use. These involve the development of software for vertical applications that allow delivery agents, salespeople, and mobile workers to perform logistical and other data-driven duties. Doctors are using wireless-enabled Palms to access and update patient records or write prescriptions. The most visible wireless developments are consumer oriented. These include delivery of time-critical information to mobile banking and travelticket purchase. The current crop of consumer-oriented services will become the foundation for more advanced services that will deliver time-and location-critical data to consumers (Vujovesic & Laberge, 2000).

M-commerce has features inherent to its nature, such as ubiquity, flexibility, convenience, and personalization, and today's features of mobile communication open a world of opportunities for m-commerce tomorrow. However, only those companies with the ability to use these inherent qualities of m-commerce to offer value to their customers will succeed in the mobile environment. The mobile environment still has the potential to empower people, providing them with real-time wireless applications that will make their lives easier and business more efficient and productive.

M-commerce is a reality now and will not be going away in the near term. Problems with these systems are being addressed, and new applications are rapidly being developed. Most of the market is behind this new technology, and it will likely change business by making it easier and more accessible to individuals. M-commerce is a tool of telecommunication and Internet industries. Those involved in it now, may become the giants that Microsoft and Intel have been in the computing industry. Those who follow may be able to capitalize on leading m-commerce mistakes and perfect this technology. One should measure the risk involved and understand that a carefully planned strategy is necessary to implement this new technology into corporate future goals.