Author: Julie Campbell

The service will be offered by Sprint as well as Rogers Communications in Canada

Rogers Communications and American wireless carrier, Sprint, have announced in their latest technology news that they will be bringing high speed internet access to vehicles very soon, as they see a tremendous opportunity for growth within that market.

According to the carriers, the service will become available quite soon within new vehicles.

That said, the companies didn’t include pricing in their technology news announcement, nor did they share the cost of the project or the dates on which they expect to launch. The statement was issued jointly by these two companies, which are among the largest telecommunications networks in North America.

One spokesperson from Rogers has confirmed that the technology news of the launch will be within a year from now.

The technology news release explained that the service would become available from auto manufacturers that use the Velocity system from Sprint in Canada, and will leverage the wireless networks from Rogers in order to make sure that vehicles remain connected while they’re on the road.

These new vehicles will be manufactured using a SIM card design that is machine-to-machine (M2M) for wireless connectivity that is built right in. According to the vice president of Rogers, Mansell Nelson, “I think people are trying to figure out from an automotive context, or an in-car context, how you make these things relevant to what the person is doing in the car at that time.”

The vehicles manufactured with Sprint Velocity – which is already being deployed in American vehicles but that is now coming to Canada as well – will provide passengers with access to driving directions, vehicle diagnostics, weather alerts, sports scores, and news through the use of a touchscreen built into the dash.

The service also provides in-car internet connectivity for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Rogers explained that it is providing this service in response to the desire of Canadians to “be connected from anywhere, at any time.”

Critics of this technology news have drawn attention to the fact that this could increase driver distractibility. That issue is certain to appear more than once, particularly in areas such as the province of Ontario, where it is illegal to drive with a mobile device in your hand, even if it is turned off.

Most consumers haven’t yet warmed to the idea of purchasing over their smartphones and tablets.

Despite the fact that this will likely be the biggest year (by far) for mobile commerce during the holiday season, the latest research is still showing that most consumers are less than enchanted with actually making a purchase through the use of their devices.

The research results were recently revealed by ICM, and were published in Retail Week.

The ICM research showed that 60 percent of all shoppers don’t plan to use mobile commerce at all throughout the length of the holiday shopping season. That said, one third of the respondents to the survey do plan to use their devices in at least some way as a part of the overall shopping process.

At the same time, the survey also showed that the future is looking very bright for mobile commerce.

We may not be there yet, but things are looking very promising in the not too distant future, due to younger consumers. It is that age group that appears to be the most open to purchasing through mobile commerce. In fact, 14 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 are expected to conduct a considerable amount of their Christmas shopping using smartphones and tablets.

A number of retailers have already been discussing their predictions regarding mobile commerce over the winter holiday shopping season. According to Andy Street, the managing director of John Lewis, there is already a 40 percent share of site traffic that comes from smartphones and tablets, so they are gearing up for a Christmas season that is heavily mobile. He stated that “Purchasing from desktop is moving to mobile. It is at 40% and growing very rapidly and we expect to see that moving forward again,” and added that “We are preparing for what we anticipate will be the UK’s first ‘mobile Christmas’.”

Home Retail, the parent company of Argos, has also applauded mobile commerce. Last week, it shared its own figures, saying that there has been an increase of 133 percent in sales over smartphones and tablets, and that 17 percent of its total sales in the second quarter were from these devices.