One of the definitionsof "Revolution" is: "a sudden, complete or marked change insomething". On the other hand the definition for "Evolution" is:"a process of gradual, peaceful, progressive change or development". We at Utiba realise that there is no correct answer and thateither might succeed, however we tend to lean a little more towards the"Evolutionary" strategy. We believe that the strategy that will succeed in Mobilecommerce is the strategy of constantly trying lots of small new things ratherthan trying to perfect one "Master" plan and then unleashing it onthe world. Also, if we are trying to change people’s behaviour at onego may not be such a good idea. If people do not have bank accounts, it might be a littlenaïve to assume that they will start opening a bank account, linking it to amobile phone and then transacting with all at one go. If people have been used to going to a retailer to get theirprepaid connection recharged, it may be naïve to assume that all of a suddenall of them will suddenly start using mobile banking technologies to rechargetheir phones and completely eliminate the retailer as a middleman. So we need a strategy that adapts to the current world andchanges it only slightly. For example, give the retailer a Mobile Commerce tool torecharge his customers. It is important to identify early adopters oftechnology and their drivers. For example will "customers" start using Mobilecommerce immediately? Well some of them will, but for the large majority itwill take some time. However, Retailers would very likely adopt the newtechnology quicker since it helps them in their business and maximise profitand reduce cost. The drivers for customers and retailers are very different.The driver for customers adopting MCommerce is "convenience" whereasfor the retailers it is "Profit". People tend to respond toincentives, the Bigger the incentive, better the response. "Profit"is definitely a bigger incentive than "convenience". The barriers foradoption for both segments are the same however because the incentives arehigher, retailers have reason to try and overcome these barriers. When Utiba launched electronic prepaid topup services inIndia for Airtel using an English STK menu, it was believed that would neverwork. However gradually electronic prepaid topup has become a runaway successin India and at least some part of the telecom success story of India can beattributed to this technology. Would we however deploy customer facing Mobile Commerceservices using an English menu? Well we just might, considering that English isone of the major unifying languages of India, is an aspirational language andthat vernacular languages have technology constraints (some handsets don’tsupport); however, we definitely would not expect the same kind of hit rate. So it is time we take the plunge, try small new things, newfeatures, new services. Don’t wait for that perfect plan to take shape beforewe try something. Before long you will find you have an MCommerce eco-systemgoing that is the envy of all others.

Read more: http://mobile-financial.com/node/12887