M-Commerce

Keith Clark
Editor
Kclark@MobileMarketingNews.com
07-17-2005

Has the AOL ™ Instant Messaging boom reached its peak? Internet messaging is no longer the most innovative form of communication, as the growing need to keep in touch with friends, family, and society has recently caused a substantial increase in wireless technology usage.

Although there is still steady growth in the number of users on the primary IM systems, AOL ™, Yahoo ™, and MSN ™, the masses are beginning to look elsewhere for a more mobile form of instant communication, such as SMS (Short-Messaging Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Services). The youth market (ages 13 to 24) is particularly adept at intuitively using these wireless devices and incorporating them into their lifestyles. These technologies have allowed the youth consumer to extend themselves beyond traditional forms of communication, time, and limited mobility issues.

The younger generations, mainly in Europe, have adopted the new technologies of SMS as quickly as the innovations are created. The research company Ovum, estimates that there will be over one billion cell phone users worldwide in 2003. 190 million will be accessing the wireless Internet, and 250 million users will be making purchases via their mobile phones. Revenue for m-commerce services is expected to reach $83 billion by 2003, roughly 20 percent of worldwide e-commerce revenue that year, which Ovum says should hit $1.3 trillion. Although there are some claiming that SMS and MMS will crash and burn as the dot-coms did in April of 2000, many believe that the 250 million users purchasing items via their cell phones is a modest estimate.

Wireless messaging and m-commerce are in the early stages of development and have room for exponential growth. The youth market will drive sales in the United States and the consumer as a whole will soon follow. Just as the Internet grew rapidly in the early 1990s, the m-commerce wave of the 21st century is just in its early stages of development.