Mobile transactions

The 6^th March 1983, Motorola launched the first mobile telephone, the DynaTAC 8000X, and was predominately a rich kids toy costing $3995 and weighting a unbelievable 28 ounces.

Who would have thought that less that 30 years later that would have turned into this:

Since then a large amount of research have been put into developing mobile technology and to date there are now 48 million mobile phone users in Britain, and over 5 billion mobile users globally. There are now a large range of mobiles available however; mobiles are no longer just a portable telephone, since the development of SMS the technology behind mobiles have developed and now have replaced computers, cameras, mp3’s, note pads, maps and many more, in addition to this manufacturers have now started to replace our wallets, by partnering with banks they plan to link our phones directly to our debit accounts and use a simple swipe method of payment so cash is not required. The time online stated that industry insiders predict that this advancement could arrive in the UK in around a year’s time. Although research shows that people would be more likely to leave their wallet at home rather than their mobile phones, however when bring out both its bad enough losing your mobile and still having your cash or bank cards but how many people would like to risk losing both, I can recall many times Ive been out and lost my mobile but been so happy cause i still had my money to hand, and the security issues we as customers would have would need to be fully addressed.  

 We are moving far into the 4^th generation of mobile technology where phones are now ‘SmartPhone’s’ and are cheaper to own and use. This enables poorer countries to access the internet and includes them in the development of technology so communicating is as accessible to poorer people as it is in richer countries. While this has developed the communication channels available to people it has also opened up new doors for the advertising community, mobile advertising is now the future, like TV years ago we still haven’t discovered its full potential but it is being developed. We can now look up places online for places to eat or to visit, Marco Veremis, President of UpStream, a mobile marketing consultancy stated "We are at the start, there's lots of enthusiasm, and the industry is set to hit $20billion this year," 

However, there are also some limitations that need to be considered when advertising over mobile phones, mobiles are personal belongings and some people may not be keen on being advertised to over the vehicle they use to communicate with family and friends. The challenge is to advertise over mobile phones in a way that it doesn’t look like advertising.