Abstract
With the continuous increase in numbers of users of mobile devices, the adoption of M-commerce is still far from reaching its full potential. There are various barriers that hinder the proliferation of m-commerce such as mobile devices inefficiency, lack of consumer's trust, incompatible networks, poor network coverage, limited bandwidth, low speed, lack of security & privacy, high cost of handsets and cost of establishing the necessary wireless infrastructure and lack of awareness. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and gender differences were other influential factors in m-commerce. Recently, Mobile Payment (m-payment) is a promising and exciting domain that has been rapidly developing. However, Consumer adoption of mobile payment (m-payment) solutions is low compared to the acceptance of traditional forms of payments. The chapter discusses these above m-commerce's barriers in details.
TopIntroduction
M-commerce is a new business opportunity that designates the use of wireless handheld devices such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, and pocket and tablet computers to make business transactions such as product ordering, fund transferring and sending or receiving of messages through communications networks that interface with these devices. M-commerce refers to the market activities where wireless devices (particularly mobile phones) are exploited to conduct electronic business transactions, such as product offering, fund transfer, and stock trading (Kalakota and Robinson, 2001). Its unique characteristics are anytime anywhere faster access to applications by its users. It enable millions of people to access information where they are without being confined to static terminal of PC and fixed networks. Easy expansion, quick design and cost efficient implementation in the areas with difficult geography or poor economic conditions are the advantage of mobile network over fixed network (Dholakia and Dholakia, 2004). With the rapid increase in the use of mobile devices and anytime-anywhere connectivity leads to significant growth of M commerce. A huge number of applications can be imagined for mobile commerce, including banking, shopping, betting, trading, ticketing, entertainment, gaming, and logistics. A lot of these applications will have one thing in common is the consumer has to pay for services he has used or goods he has purchased. Karnouskos and Fokus (2004) say that “Any payment where a mobile device is used in order to initiate, activate, and/or confirm this payment can be considered a mobile payment”. The impact of mobile payment has a noticeable effect on mobile commerce. However, mobile payments face a number of problems, both from a technological and business point of view. This may affect the consumer adoption of m commerce. Here author studied several factors affecting the use of M commerce and m-payments by consumers.