Authors: Franz Büllingen, Peter Stamm
Study on behalf of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv)
There is a high increase of consumer-related aspects attached to the development of mobile commerce via smartphones and other devices. Therefore the Federation of German Consumer Organisations has elected the consumer-friendly design of the mobile Internet industry to one of its key activities in 2012 and has commissioned a WIK-study to analyze and evaluate the future market.
The study forecasts the development of mobile commerce on the basis of the foreseeable technical developments of mobile communication and mobile devices. The focus is on the relevant issues from a consumer perspective. Given the enormous number of applications in mobile commerce, the study concentrates on three exemplary application fields with high relevance for vzbv: geo-location, mobile payment and mobile shopping.
Within these exemplary application fields, the study provides an analysis and forecast of the relevant market developments in mobile commerce in user perspective. Based on this analysis, a catalog of legislative and non-legislative measures for securing a high level of consumer protection was developed.
The Federation of German Consumer Organisations used this Study, in particular the set of requirements contained, to formulate a position paper for further discussion with government and industry.
The study (in German) as well a summary in German and Englisch is available for download.
