M-Commerce Is Alive And Well At Amazon.com
I've always said that straight m-commerce didn't make much sense to me. I couldn't fathom a situation where you'd be so desperate to buy something (like a book) and then wait a few days for it to arrive, such that you couldn't wait until you got to a computer to order it. Specifically, I was even thinking about some of the earliest m-commerce applications that Amazon.com offered over Sprint PCS phones. So consider me surprised to find out that m-commerce is alive and well at Amazon.com. While they admit their early efforts weren't so hot, there was enough activity to encourage them to keep exploring. These days, they say they have about 500,000 customers transacting through mobile devices (they don't say if this is an all-time count, over a certain period of time, or regularly). They also say that they've taken orders from 87 different devices - though, I wonder how they count. For example, I could probably order via my Danger Hiptop (I've never tried), but I'm not sure how they would know it was coming from the Hiptop as opposed to a regular web browser. They also say that they look to their m-commerce buyers to understand what's coming next, since they're often the early adopters.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: mcommerce
