M-commerce is any monetary transaction conducted via a mobile telecommunications network using a communication, information, and payment (CIP) device such as a mobile phone or a palmtop unit. USA has been the leader in e-commerce but Europe and Japan appear to have the early leadership in m-commerce. The main distinction between m-commerce and e-commerce is that the typical e-commerce customer counts the money while the typical m-commerce customer counts the minutes. Additionally, e-commerce is based upon fixed location whereas m-commerce is based upon ubiquity. E-commerce companies will not necessarily be the ones that drive m-commerce. We foresee three main areas of impact of m-commerce on marketing and competition. First, there will be greater levels of customization or one-to-one marketing via m-portals. Such m-portals will integrate the m-Brochure, the m-Manual, and the m-Store – three progressively stronger formats for conducting m-commerce activities. The second impact will be the blurring of boundaries between consumer and business-to-business marketing. Because of such blurring, segmentation in terms of roles (off- or on-duty) and location (home, office or elsewhere) will be very important. The third impact is the likelihood of transformation of industry structures. The main managerial implication of m-commerce is that firms that do not become m-portals will end up being sub-suppliers to the m-portals. These sub-suppliers will have to develop finely targeted strategies for their m-commerce applications. We foresee potential research implications in each of three parallel and interrelated areas: 1) Studies of one-to-really-one integrated applications, 2) Study of usage patterns in different locations and 3) research on Industry transformations and the ensuing competitive impacts.

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