Mobile Markets – How do they differ from Internet Markets.pdfVIP

Mobile Markets – How do they differ from Internet Markets Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva² mcm institute, University St. Gallen Katarina.Stanoevska@unisg.ch Work in Progress Abstract This paper explores the features of mobile markets and how they differ from Inter- net markets. 1 M-Commerce – Definitions Even though m-commerce is a new phenomena, there are already many different definitions for the main terms related to this research area in the literature. In order to avoid misunderstandings the most important terms related to mobile technologies will be explained in this section. In many cases the words “wireless” and “mobile” are used interchangeably to denote mo- bile applications. However, the adjective “wireless” denotes basically the way how the trans- mission of data is performed. Wireless means that data is delivered to an end user across air- waves (Mobilicity 2001), (Anckar D’Incau 2002). The adjective “mobile” refers to applica- tions, which are designed for users on the move, i.e. for applications that support the user inde- pendent of his location (Anckar D’Incau 2002), (Lehnert, 2002). This means that a wireless application does not have to be a mobile application as well. For example, providing passengers with information about discounts and coupons that can be used for buying at the store through a Bluetooth interface when they pass near the store provides a wireless extension of marketing ac- tivities. It would be at the same time a mobile application, in case the customer could access the same information from any location through his mobile device and if interested can react on it. Therefore “mobile” is a term with wider meaning compared to “wireless” and subsumes “wire- less”. Providing added va