Discussion and Conclusion
Discussion
and Conclusion
Mobile technology, mobile Internet access, and m-commerce
are growing rapidly on the global stage; however, growth rates vary widely
across economic regions. The penetration rate of mobile phones, the optimum
combination of different generations of telecommunications, and the combination
of different technical formats vary according to a wide array of economic,
sociocultural, and policy-related factors. The ways in which companies integrate
m-commerce applications into their business models depend upon numerous
environmental factors, particularly the combination of communications
technologies previously adopted and the mobile technologies currently diffusing
in their domestic economies. Given the scope for technological leapfrogging and
alternative national mixes of fixed lines and wireless infrastructures, global
heterogeneity in national patterns of m-commerce development—and hence, of
business models in m-commerce—appears to be a likely prospect for the
foreseeable near future.
An interesting consequence of this global heterogeneity is
the tenuousness of the distinction between "leading" and "lagging" countries.
Nations that "lag" in fixed-line telephony or Internet use stand to benefit
proportionately more from mobile technologies and may, in some cases, be better
positioned to innovate their use; though it is always dangerous to speculate,
there is some indication that industrialized
East Asian countries may fall into this category. Yet not all nations that rank
as "leaders" in m-commerce necessarily have cause to celebrate; many European
countries, for example, are concerned that their carriers exhausted their
financial resources in the development of 3G and may be unable to follow through
in infrastructural development of mobile technologies. By the same token, the
U.S. "lag" in m-commerce may not prove to be a long-term handicap; in fact, the
U.S. lag in 3G may accelerate the exploration of technological alternatives like
Wi-Fi or UWB. Thanks to NTT DoCoMo's i-mode, Japan is assuredly a "leader" in
m-commerce; yet this leadership position is partly conditioned by the fact that
i-mode represents, to a significant extent, a Japan-specific substitute for
fixed-line Internet usage; the industrial and export benefits of this leadership
position are far from certain.
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