Research in Mobile Computing: Problems and Opportunities

The mobile phone has emerged as the most significant addition to IT infrastructure since the birth of the internet. It has also spawned a prodigious amount of research. However, in the IS field there is a paucity of technical research in mobile computing. The authors justify this position via a survey of the literature as well as a survey of leading conferences in IS. Predictably, the IS field is focused on impact and usage studies rather than design so this is a tremendous opportunity for the field. According to the authors' survey of IS conferences that includes over 8,500 articles, the number of publications dealing with technical research is only 0.53%. This is clearly cause for concern. The authors' position is that the IS field could have a major role in the design and development of the device and that the design science methodology with its focus on artifacts is an appropriate methodology for this exciting field.