Hello everyone.

I am working on a business thesis about mobile commerce (m-commerce) and I am trying to get the thoughts & opinions of consumers. It would be very helpful to my studies if some of you would volunteer to discuss and answer a few of the questions listed below. Feel free to comment on others’ thoughts. Do not worry if your opinions are or are not the same as others. All opinions matter.

A very basic definition of mobile commerce is the purchase of goods or services with a mobile device. However, our discussion is focused on mobile phones.

Some examples of m-commerce include downloading software & ringtones, paying for bus/movie tickets, accessing banking information, and etc. on your phone.

Please discuss any of the questions below that you would like.

• Do you use your phone for making any financial transactions or purchases? If yes, what type? If no, why not?
• Have you had any experiences with using mobile phones for purchases? If yes, please explain. If no, why not?
• What mobile phone services do you find yourself using the most and which ones do you find the most useful? Why?
• Does price effect your decision to use mobile phone services? If yes, please explain.
• What might motivate you to use mobile commerce?
• Do you have a need for on-the-go internet connectivity? If yes, how do you achieve this goal? Please mention the types of devices and/or services you use for this.

All comments are appreciated! Thank you

Bump.

Maybe I'm asking for too much? Even answering one question would be a great help!

Thanks in advance

Its..... a pretty dryset of questions... and they've all been answered in organicly grown threads. I know its a pain but if you want the answers you'll have to do some searching.

That may be true, but I was hoping I could use the popular mobile forums as a way to get more feedback. I can only cover so much ground doing face-2-face interviews. It would be better for my thesis if a few people did not mind posting their opinion in this thread to my specific questions.

thank you for opinion though.

Hi, I'm a Business student here in the UK.

The first two questions can be answered with a no because we'd rather use a proper web browser, a proper computer and have anti-viurs software so our private and confidentional data couldn't be hacked into. As question 3 and 4 relate, price is a factor for the majority of users. We don't really want to run up huge bills through our GPRS or our HSDPA connections. And if your from Yorkshire like me where we are all tight and not like spending money them nobody would connect to the web on their mobile. Myself I find the social networking apps and sites most useful and will also browse on eBay alot when I'm out of the house however I won't use my GPRS connection because its rather expensive so I will also find a Wi-Fi hotspot or something. Once privacy and our own personal data is safe for mobile OS's and mobile browsers then it would be a start to motoviate people as they would feel safe to use e-commerce on a mobile scale. Personally I don't really have much need for on the go web connectivity as I've a wireless internet connection at home and them at school which is the same however I do know people that want and use web on the move either through their GPRS or HSDPA connections on their phones where they have unlimited data tariff or will use dongles which plug into their laptops or netbooks.

To conclude I can see 'm-commerce' being more promintent in future years as companies will find solutions for the privacy issues which people have but for now people will still go to the shops or use e-commerce.


Alex

For your questions:

>> Financial transactions - buy & sell stock via phone belong to this type?
>> No purchase. No service available here, and i'm doubt about the security
>> Top3 is chat, internet, gps, and gps is most useful exept SMS, phone call
>> Depend on the applications, it's hard to see spend how much is normal
>> Make things simple & convinient
>> Already done, monthly charge about US$2 for 100Megabit. Mainly for MSN ...

lol

I've never made financial transactions even though I know I can pay for my eBay auctions via PayPal mobile, but I don't feel that it's too secure for me to send money through my phone. I prefer the PC myself.


I have purchased games for my Windows Mobile phone from my provider who has some sort of club that I can download what I want that is cheaper for me to get the games or ringtones if I prefer to use up my credits that way. That reminds me that I have a whole new set of credits for the taking.


I use the internet more often on my phone than voice which I am using the lowest possible plan I can get right now since I don't talk on the phone much. I might be voice chatting through my data service if I really wanted to use Skype in the future which I haven't done but thinking about it.


I don't think price affects me too much, but I do have to weigh the options to see if purchasing something is really worth is just like everyone else.


I guess it might take some serious convincing that using mobile commerce is completely safe and secure and that my private information will not be picked up by someone else and so forth.


The only time I use on-the-go stuff is for when I need directions to go somewhere and I pull up Google Maps on my phone so that I can get to my destination in a timely fashion. Other than that, I haven't found any other usage at least not yet anyway.


I hope this helps you out in your thesis. Sorry I was too general at times.

Take care!
Sunmaker

>>Do you use your phone for making any financial transactions or purchases? If yes, what type? If no, why not?

No, because not all companies offer mobile version therefore shopping is hard enough

>> Have you had any experiences with using mobile phones for purchases? If yes, please explain. If no, why not?

See above

>> What mobile phone services do you find yourself using the most and which ones do you find the most useful? Why?

I use emailing, SMS'ing and internet most of the time. No voice calls at all.

>> Does price effect your decision to use mobile phone services? If yes, please explain.

Yes. As I use texting and internet a lot, I want to pay reasonable price to get the service I require

>>What might motivate you to use mobile commerce?

When the companies get a mobile version up & running then I would consider it.

>> Do you have a need for on-the-go internet connectivity? If yes, how do you achieve this goal? Please mention the types of devices and/or services you use for this.

Always. Tomtom for traffic reports. Push e-mail all day. Google Maps Mobile when I need to find something nearby. Palringo! And anythign that requires internet access.

Hope this helps.

Great!

I would just like to point out that mobile commerce is not limited to purchases made through your phone browser. M-commerce includes any purchase made on your phone.

For example, there are many services that allow you to make purchases made by texting a specific keyword to a number. Usually these services take money (in the form of credit) from your prepaid phone, or add a small fee to your monthly telephone bill.

I just wanted to point that out for other who may reply.
Thank you very much for your responses everyone!

1) nope, no financial purchases to loose for my standards as is a laptop (i dont trust wireless)
2)N/A dont purchase stuff
3)not sure of the meaning sorry real :|
4)no way, i believe in the sayin you get what you pay for
5)110% hacker proof which will never happen
6)Not a need but a convince to check sport scores and such. My blackberry storm has 3G, my Tmob MDA had EDGE/WiFi

Do you use your phone for making any financial transactions or purchases? If yes, what type? If no, why not?

Not had the need to.

Have you had any experiences with using mobile phones for purchases? If yes, please explain. If no, why not?

Nope

What mobile phone services do you find yourself using the most and which ones do you find the most useful? Why?

Data for internet access, for email on the move, IRC, and web browsing


Does price effect your decision to use mobile phone services? If yes, please explain.

Doesnt effect my decision to use mobile phone services but price does effect which provider to go with.

What might motivate you to use mobile commerce?

Not sure

Do you have a need for on-the-go internet connectivity? If yes, how do you achieve this goal? Please mention the types of devices and/or services you use for this.

Yes, I use smarthphones/pocket pc's

* Do you use your phone for making any financial transactions or purchases? If yes, what type? If no, why not?
No. Mostly because the financial framework in my country, Ghana has not fully implemented them.

* Have you had any experiences with using mobile phones for purchases? If yes, please explain. If no, why not?
Yes, when i was on a trip to the states. Mostly for buying stuff for my phone. Otherwise none in my home country

* What mobile phone services do you find yourself using the most and which ones do you find the most useful? Why?
IM, SMS and mobile internet
* Does price effect your decision to use mobile phone services? If yes, please explain.
No
* What might motivate you to use mobile commerce?
Security and innovative products

* Do you have a need for on-the-go internet connectivity? If yes, how do you achieve this goal? Please mention the types of devices and/or services you use for this.
Yes. I often use my 3g phone as a modem for connectivity

Yes, use it sometimes to do banking (checking, paying, ..). https to my bank



Not in the sense of paying through mobile service (like parking). I have plastic cards, easier



Agenda, E-mail, Internet (google, phonebook, maps, ping.fm, ...), live messenger, twitter, ... Work based, contact based mostly



Yes, have flatfee Vodafone HSDPA (7.2Mbps) for 4.50 euro/month. Will never pay per MB, flatfee only.



Ease of use.



Yes, for E-mail, google maps, ... via flatfee HSDPA from Vodafone (before I used Pocket Internet Plus from T-Mobile)

Thanks for your replies everyone! I'm hoping to get a few more responses, so keep them comin'.