When people say "mobile is just another channel for e-commerce", I tend to disagree. Mobile is not just another channel, it is a channel which opens up interesting opportunities and use cases that have never been imagined before. Sure, mobile commerce brings commerce activities to mobile devices. But what it also brings is the uncanny opportunity to use local, personal, and ubiquity aspects of a mobile device. In this post, let's talk about mobile devices.
Let's begin with the basics. What are some of the defining aspects of mobile? First, our mobile devices like cellphones, tablets, iPods etc, are quite personal. We have a whole bunch of personal information on cell phone. Second, our mobile devices are with us most of the time (if not all the time). So our mobile devices are aware of where we are at a given moment. They are also aware of which places we frequent. Third, with smartphones of today, we can do most of the activities that a few years ago required us to go back to our desks and fire up our computers.
So mobile is personal, ubiquitous, and powerful. In other words, with mobile we can do most of our things anywhere and anytime.
