Haiti points to future of mobile commerce

The idea of mobile commerce has inspired a lot of hype, and much of it has been about new-era services that many envisioned would be made possible by the so-called Wireless Application Protocol, or WAP. But the protocol has been advanced in fits and starts only, even as mobile commerce built on simple text messaging (SMS) seems to be enjoying a mini-boom.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that just two days after the earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the American Red Cross raised $7 million via text messaging from more than 700,000 wireless users. This suggests that such fund raising points to a big year for mobile financial applications, as hype about mobile devices continues to grow.

Consider the fact that two of Gartner's top 10 mobile consumer app areas for 2012 are money transfer and mobile payment. It seems that SMS technologies are in vogue. But I still think that we'll need more advanced applications that will be palatable to consumers as the mobile technology advances. And secure SMS will have to become a priority. We'll likely end up in a dual world after all.

For more:
- here's the San Francisco Chronicle article

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