M-Commerce really has been a long time coming, just that it really has not arrived yet. I used to have m-check from Airtel on my phone earlier (doesn’t work on my new phone), have ngpay now, but have not used it yet. Newspapers have been carrying items about M-commerce and how it will be the biggest thing since the internet (or sliced bread if you please).
Doing a quick search on the web, I found many articles but on the first page there was an article in Express Computers from as long back as 2003. Ericsson talked about it in 2007 on their web site and Economic Times had an article earlier today. And technology consulting companies have been talking about M-commerce really taking shape in the next few years.
So, why does this thing not really take off? Gartner’s 2009 Hype cycle (image copyright Gartner 2009) might hold part of the answer. The hype cycle shows that M-Commerce has gone off the situation of inflated expectations and now is climbing up the ‘Slope of Elightenment’. The real reason has got to have to do with the mobile services available and the operators. 3G is yet to be widespread. The cell networks still have to become reliable enough in terms of stability or speed, and of course there is no saying about security or the lack thereof.
FourTeaTwo 