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E-COMMERCE IS
BECOMING MOBILE
COMMERCE
M-COMMERCE
T
he term e-commerce
(electronic commerce)
refers to all buying and
selling done on the Internet.
M-commerce (mobile commerce)
specifically involves transactions
that are made through a mobile
telecommunications network.
These transactions can range from
the small, such as making an eBay
purchase, to the potentially huge,
such as trading stocks and shares.M-commerce works in a similar
way to e-commerce, with websites
and apps adapted or originated for
mobile and handheld devices. It can
also include direct carrier billing,
when purchases can be added to a
cell-phone bill. Another function is
tap-to-pay, where a customer
makes payments using a mobile
device that has been installed
with credit card information via
a program such as Google Wallet.IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Mobile commerceKEY DATES
1983 US inventor Charles
Walton patents the first radio
frequency identification (RFID)
device, paving the way for
m-commerce and near field
communication (NFC).1997 The first m-commerce
transaction takes place in
Helsinki, Finland, with the
installation of two Coca-Cola
vending machines that accept
payment via SMS.1999 The first national
commercial platforms for
m-commerce are launched:
i-Mode in Japan and Smart
Money in the Philippines.2007 Nokia launches its first
commercial NFC-enabled
cell phone.2011 The Google Wallet app
enables stored credit card
data to be used for purchases
via a cell phone.Buying and selling
on the Internet
(e-commerce) has
grown enormously...The Internet is now
accessed by mobile
devices more often than
by desktop devices....but so has the market
for web-enabled
smartphones.E-commerce is
becoming mobile
commerce.