United States of America: Renewed Race for Mobile Services

Abstract

Somewhat behind in the mobile telephony adoption than leading European and Asian markets, the U.S. market caught up in the 2000s. While simple types of mobile data services — such as messaging and downloads — had made some headway, the preexisting popularity of PC-based Internet made the U.S. users somewhat resistant to m-commerce offerings that did not match the richness of PC e-commerce. By the mid-2000s, however, network and technological capabilities were in place to usher in rich, new m-commerce offerings in U.S. markets. By taking advantage of new technologies, the U.S. mobile industry had the opportunity to become an innovator in m-commerce offerings.