Can Wearable Technology Affect Mobile Commerce?

One of the most attractive aspects of mobile commerce is its convenience. Smartphones and tablets let people make payments for goods and services wherever they happen to be at any given moment, and these people don’t even have to use a credit card or any kind of physical currency. Many mobile commerce platforms have been able to thrive because of their convenient nature. In the advent of wearable technology, that convenience could be taken to a new level.

Wearable devices, such as smart watches and glasses are on the verge of becoming quite popular with tech-savvy consumers. Few of these devices are currently available, but that is likely to change in the next few years. Current wearable devices are somewhat lackluster in their features, but devices being released in the near future will behave very similar to modern smartphones. They will be able to use a wide range of applications, some of which will change the way people see the physical world around them. They will also have access to mobile commerce platforms.

Unlike smartphones, wearable devices will be controlled in a more intuitive way. For smart glasses, voice controls and modest head and eye movements will be used to activate the features of a device. These devices will also be equipped with image recognition technology that could also be used to activate certain features. This could make commerce significantly more intuitive and responsive to consumer interaction. When someone can look at a product and make a purchase with nothing more than a blink of an eye, that is the epitome of convenience in the mobile commerce space.

Wearable devices aren’t perfect, of course. Using a simple gesture to make a purchase could lead to many problems, such as unauthorized transactions. This is not something that app developers are unaware of, and many are taking steps to ensure that their mobile commerce platforms will not be abusive in this way.