M-Com & my thesis progress

I'm always discovering mobile commerce/marketing/LBS companies, even though some of them have apparently been around for quite a while!

M-Com
"M-Com’s application mTopup, enables consumers with a Telecom pre-paid mobile phone and an ASB Bank account to top-up their airtime credit from their bank account via SMS text message, providing them with a further alternative to topping up their phone. The service, generically termed Mobile Payment or mPayment, is the first collaboration of its kind between a major Telco and a bank in New Zealand."

Sounds interesting & relevant! Whenever I come across these locally-based companies working on m-commerce, I get very excited and hopeful for m-commerce in New Zealand (and thus, LBS). In particular, if you're interested in m-payments, then check out their white paper on MCredit. I may try to contact someone from there for my thesis research... It's strange though, whenever I hear or see that word, I immediately think 'Master of Commerce', as that's the degree I'm studying - I had never thought about it as a short way of saying mobile commerce!

Also, some very nice people have been emailing me over the past few weeks - sorry I haven't gotten back to you yet! Things have been a bit crazy lately, and I am having real trouble finding real tourists to recruit for my focus groups... I just have to work a bit harder on that since it's my first priority...

Anyway, one of the emails was from Sam Critchley of A2B.cc, a location-based search engine which looks quite interesting. I also see a lot popping up on the LBS technorati search, but it's so difficult to keep up with everything going on in the LBS area lately, especially with my own research coming in thick and fast... I think I have a much better understanding of what the critical issues are for LBS though - when I've fully analysed my expert interviews, I will definitely write a summary of my findings here.

Remember, if you are or will be around the Auckland region sometime within the next few months, give me an email and we can have a chat about LBS! Since it's so rare to find people around here who actually know what it is, it's always a nice when you have an excuse to talk about it... =)