A Mobile Commerce Challenge Model

The initial hype created by the emergence of mobile computing technologies has slowly given way to a large amount of skepticism. Even though some m-commerce applications have already made their way to the marketplace, experts now predict that it will still be some time before the potential of mcommerce can finally be realized. This pessimism is largely due to the fact that the technologies involved are still not mature enough, and it will cost a great deal in terms of resources and effort to install the required infrastructure. M-commerce faces many challenges today. Various solutions have been suggested, some realizable with today’s technology, some not. In the end, however, only the users of the applications will determine the level of success of m-commerce. Unless it becomes easier and cheaper to transact business using m-commerce applications than by using conventional methods, applications will not become popular, either with users or providers. Companies involved in providing m-commerce services must also be convinced that they will receive a return on the large investments they are making in setting up the necessary infrastructure. In this paper, we present a challenge model for mobile commerce. We analyze the impediments and their inter-relationships, and also discuss the benefits and disadvantages of mobile commerce.