Asynchronous Adoption Patterns of Mobile Services

The adoption patterns for mobile services are a key challenge for research in mobile technology applications. The early mobile commerce hype was based on search for "killer applications", i.e. mobile services which would launch the field and ensure rapid and profitable growth of mobile technology applications. We have studied how consumers pick up the use of mobile services by comparing the results from two studies of the Finnish consumer market for mobile services. We have tried to describe, what are the determinants of service adoption and the patterns of adoption that we can observe. The approach is straightforward: first we work through a theoretical background of the adoption of innovations, and then we search for explanations for the patterns of adoption. In conclusion, we will assess some steps in the future adoption of mobile services.