Tuesday, October 13, 2009
M-Commerce’s Big Moment
It’s never been easy making mobile-commerce predictions.
It’s never been easy making mobile-commerce predictions.
Hindered by a failure to sell large numbers of digital music players, Microsoft is singing a new Zune. A few weeks before releasing a new version of its MP3 player called Zune HD, Microsoft is taking extraordinary steps to court software developers to create applications for the device.
Dell CEO Michael Dell has done little to dispel rumors that his company is working on a mobile computing device. In fact, he all but confirmed them while traveling in Japan on March 24 when he said: “It is true that we are exploring smaller-screen devices.” What form those devices will take remains a matter of heated debate.
As the exclusive U.S. carrier for the Apple iPhone, AT&T has had a lot to celebrate. Rivals hope to crash the party. A growing number of public interest groups want an end to the partnership that forces buyers of Apple’s iPhone to buy their mobile-phone service only from AT&T.
Scott Goldman uses his mobile phone to call friends and business contacts all over the world, from Britain to Australia. But the Southern California-based consultant doesn’t pay a dime in international tolls to his mobile-phone carrier, AT&T, the biggest in the U.S.
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