By Chuck Martin
It seems like almost every day there’s yet another bit of news relating to mobile commerce from all corners of the world.
In the last couple of weeks, we’ve faced a continuous and wide ranging number of developments, including announcements relating to expansion, joint ventures and mobile commerce deployments.
While there may be varying commerce-related issues at different time, each geographic region grapples with each as they come along.
The bottom line is the world of mobile commerce is getting smaller and well connected. After mentioning an issue relating to the state of mobile payments in the U.S., someone invariably mentions a mobile payment status in another country.
In Europe, for example, people from countries where English is not the main language could be challenged participating in mobile commerce in countries like the United Kingdom, where most commerce services are based on the English language.
Some other recent mobile commerce developments outside the U.S. include:
- MasterCard announced that it will deploy more than 400,000 NFC-enabled point-of-sale terminals throughout Japan over the next three years. The near-field communication terminals will accept MasterCard PayPass transactions, so consumers can make mobile payments from smartphones or tablets.
- UK retailer Argos saw sales via its mobile channel grow 114% in its first quarter, highlighting the growing confidence from consumers to shop on-the-go.
- Japanese mobile commerce and entertainment provider DeNA partnered with Chinese electronics retailer Suning to promote mobile games. Through its Chinese subsidiary, the company is releasing games from its social gaming platform.
- Mobile commerce was introduced to Dubai at the Cards and Payments Middle East Conference 2013 at the Dubai World Trade Centre to acquaint attendees with taking the mobile commerce industry in the region to the next level. Focus was on the challenges implementing mobile wallets.
- Train passengers in India will soon be able to use their mobile phones to book tickets through a simple text-messaging-based facility or a menu-based dialing service, transportations officials announced.
- Mobile commerce services provider Celltick partnered with KupiKupon, a provider of daily deals in Eastern Europe and a rival of Groupon Russia. The partnership is to publish targeted mobile coupons to millions of consumers across Russia and Ukraine through Celltick’s real-time coupon server.
These examples are just from the last couple of weeks.
Mobile commerce ultimately will touch every part of the world. It’s now doing it more than one piece at a time.
Chuck Martin is Editor of the mCommerce Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily MobileShopTalk column. He is the author of “Mobile Influence,” “The Third Screen,” and “The Smartphone Handbook.” He is CEO of Mobile Future Institute. Chuck Martin is a frequent Mobile Keynote Speaker and Mobile Marketing Speaker internationally. He also addresses Social Media in Mobile.
