The language of commerce has changed dramatically in the last two decades especially with the growing popularity of trading electronically. However no-one could have predicted the popularity of the mobile phone and the subsequent form of commerce it has given birth to. Dubbed m-commerce, early adapting countries such as Japan and the U.S. are enjoying a massive surge from this channel and it's only going to get better.
The International Telecommunication Union published a recent report on global ICT statistics and it states that the number of mobile phone subscriptions now exceeds 4.6 billion... That's 67% of the world's population with a mobile phone!!! (http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/material/Telecom09_flyer.pdf).
If you're formulating a strategy for the next ten years don't forget to check what kind of impact this will have. I'm giving my R&D team a call as soon as I get back in the office to ask whether they've got anything in the pipeline in m-commerce!
By the way, Wikipedia gives a great overview of the business applications of m-commerce.
