M-Commerce – Food for Thought
I’ve been thinking about mobile commerce recently, in part because I am on a panel at the Canadian IT Law Association annual conference tomorrow entitled “Mobile Business: Industry Trends, Public Policy Issues and Legal Implications” along with Jacob Glick of Google, and Eric Gross of Gowlings.
m-commerce is already here, and will grow significantly in the near future. Consider that mobile devices are outselling PC’s.
North America is not on the leading edge of this. Places like Japan and Korea, and parts of Europe are ahead of us.
As examples of what can be done, take a look at these McDonald’s interactive billboards. You play a game on the billboard using your phone to win a virtual coupon. (Ironically, the videos in the article at this link might not play on your iPhone).
Also see the virtual grocery store in a south Korean subway station. The walls have images of store shelves. You take pictures QR codes beside items you want, and the store delivers the purchases to you shortly after you get home.
There was a lot of knowledgeable talk about m-commerce at the UNCITRAL colloquium on the international law of e-commerce in New York last February. The program has links to the papers and slide presentations. UNCITRAL nevertheless decided not to put the creation of international rules for m-commerce on the agenda of its Working Group on Electronic Commerce – yet.
Interesting topic. I mused about the Tesco virtual grocery store and how public libraries might apply this idea on my blog in August here: http://conniecrosby.blogspot.com/2011/08/innovative-ideas-virtual-stores-and.html
This seems to be inspiring some interesting ideas-I can’t wait for someone to try something like this out here!