New technologies will come and go, and while the first to market may not always succeed, those who follow will often learn from the original founders of such an industry and pick up those pieces and thrive. Take the case of Webvan, over a billion dollars spent and lost and yet today FreshDirect flourishes. It’s not only commonplace, but expected, so taking that into mind one would assume that it’s only a matter of time before Mobile Commerce takes flight. While over the past five years countless companies have tried and failed, someone is bound to figure out the right business model or maybe this is just one that will have to bite the dust.

Like it or not, commerce itself was built on pornography. While its roots were based on the concept of a communications network with no single point of failure, things quickly changed long too long after that. Before PayPal was X.Com or even a thought in anyone’s mind, iBill cornered the billing market in adult credit card payments. Years before YouTube existed, adult streaming feeds were pushing their way into the homes of millions of Americans. Even before Digg, Persian Kitty changed the way people searched for high quality free adult pictures. While it’s often the subject no one wants to talk about, a lot of money and innovation goes into pornography that often yields huge benefits to those who come next.

Surprisingly, this may in fact lead into why Mobile commerce just doesn’t work no matter how you spin it. Can you imagine watching porn on a 2 inch by 2 inch screen? Also, porn is often enjoyed in one’s home whereas why would anyone choose a 2 inch screen versus the many other options in their home? Fact is, they simply won’t. So many companies continue to try and figure out what’s wrong with this picture, but until they realize that the average guy just isn’t going to waste his time buying porn on his phone, then it’s just not going to work.

Here’s an idea, if you could covertly charge purchases to your phone without the wife or girlfriend knowing about it and then taking advantage of the sweets on your computer, then that may in fact be a viable alternative. I hear Europe is trying to take that market, but those outside of America have often been years ahead in porn, sorry Mr. Hefner. *

* Hugh, if you are reading this please don’t ban me from that mansion, that comment was meant out of respect, you do great work, I read EVERY article.