M-commerce

[santoto]

There has been an explosive growth in the use of mobile / m-commerce and m-payment, especially in parts of the developing world like Africa and India. Some commentators have even called for banking regulations to be eased, or at least fine-tuned to make m-commerce more attractive. Does this make sense in the current climate? And why has m-commerce been so successful in poorer countries, anyway? What is the future for m-commerce and m-payment in a post-credit-crunch world? Is it traditional banks with branches dealing with physical cash that should be worried about their future?

[mikenash]

And why has m-commerce been so successful in poorer countries, anyway?

Is it traditional banks with branches dealing with physical cash that should be worried about their future?

One reason could be that mobile applications are cheaper to acquire and maintain than other applications such as a PC/laptop, not to mention that the technology required to power a PC/laptop -the internet, is still hard to come by in most parts of Africa and maybe even india. So a viable/cheaper solution, which already serves a very basic function of voice communication, seems the best bet. Best of both worlds. And I think more functions will even become available with m/applications in the future as the technology is developed/becomes available and accepted/understood by the users.

The financial institutions in these places had better wake up and smell the coffee regarding what m/applications can do for their business/economy, but knowing a little about such organizations as I do/think I do, they will wait till they kingdom come before they do so

My 2 cents.