Enthusiasm For Mobile Commerce Deflates

from the build-it-and-they-won't-come dept

We've discussed this before, but many companies jumped into the whole "m-commerce" space way too quickly. They assumed that if they just rebuilt their website in WAP-form, people would come right along, with no thought towards how using a mobile phone to do things differs than using the web itself, and how people might actually want to use it. So, after disappointing adoption, companies like Amazon.com and Wells Fargo have cut back on their mobile commerce plans, and that's making others reconsider as well. The article blames the bad phones in the US along with "cultural issues" - since m-commerce apps do much better in other areas of the world. I put more of the blame on the companies and their "build it and they'll come" attitude. If they actually figured out what would be useful to customers, maybe things would have gone a bit more smoothly.
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