A socio-cultural analysis of the present and the future of the m-commerce industry

With high optimism, the third-generation mobile communication technologies were launched and adopted by telecommunication giants in different parts of the globe. However, with an uncertain and turbulent social, economic, and political environment, and the downturn in the global economy, difficult conditions are pronounced for the initial promises of m-commerce technologies to be fully realized. The cause for this, determined so far, have been largely of a technical nature. This chapter shifts the focus of analysis from a pure technical approach to a socio-cultural one. The basic premise of this chapter is that cultural variations do play a very important part in shaping potential consumers' choices, beliefs, and attitudes about m-commerce services. The authors believe that to be an important way for the m-commerce industry to fulfill its potential.