Technological regimes in m-commerce: Convergence as a barrier to diffusion and entrepreneurship?

During the dotcom-period, a commonly shared belief was that m-commerce and m-payment would become just as successful as GSM and SMS. Although the ICT industry has successfully recovered from the dotcom crisis, m-commerce has still not had much success: why has the diffusion of m-commerce and m-payment been so slow, almost absent in Europe and USA? The article suggests that the obstacles accounting for this are plausibly systemic and related to factors that hinder the establishment of a new technological regime for m-commerce. Diffusion of m-commerce will require convergence of numerous disparate and competing elements and systems that at present belong to, or are controlled by, different sectors. The article presents a case study of a dotcom firm fictitiously entitled PinkFish in order to demonstrate these factors. By embracing a strategy of convergence based on symbiosis and co-operation, m-commerce may enter a rapid diffusion process in the future.