Mobile handhelds are becoming the center of a new hype. Smartphones sales are skyrocketing, new technologies allow the mass market to use the Internet at a high speed, and no one can possibly doubt mobile will be the next trend to watch.
Now what we have learned with the Iphone success, is that people like to interact with their smartphone for three main activities:
- To be informed: Read articles on the web, download some newspapers applications
- Useful applications: Find a restaurant nearby, consult a bank account, prepare a shopping list.
- To have Fun: all the video games which exist now.
What about paying with their mobile phones? A lot of companies have already invented new ways to use mobile as a payment terminal for in store purchases.
"A new study by UK-based smart buying clubGlamoo suggests that 44% of Brits will use their mobile phone to buy and send gifts this Christmas.
Sampling 4000 people, the survey found that a third of respondents would use their daily commute to complete a shop for goods and services on their mobile, whilst 42% said they would take advantage of being a passenger in the car to complete their shop."
What is interesting to see is the advantage mobile commerce would deliver: Being able to order in any situation, which is not yet the case of the Internet. But I believe that the main challenge for mobile commerce will be to provide a nice interface which will help the customer to find the products he wants with ease.
What do you think about it?
