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Thanks to modern technology, a person can shop from pretty much anywhere, at any time. This person - a retailer's dream - is known as the "Anywhere Consumer."

The Yankee Group's Emily Green delivered a keynote on the subject at ad:Tech; Lisa Barone of Bruce Clay, Inc. reported on the address. According to Green, a "Trinity" of factors is (in part) responsible for the creation of the Anywhere Consumer.

Mobility is the first component - Barone writes that it "extends the value of all consumer services, like voice, messaging, imaging, audio, video, socializing, etc." Network applications come next, because "the computer has developed into our network, while the Web has been demoted into the content platform."

The last part of Green's "Trinity" is mobile TV, which has apparently taken off in the Korea (a leading tech market). "An interesting study . . . found that drama and music videos far surpassed news and sports for preferred genres. Most surprisingly, the average viewing time was 20-30 minutes - that's a full episode of television!"

The spread of "anywhereness," as Green called it, will in some ways benefit consumers. "Users are showing a need for media to be fluid. They want to be able to download music and video and be able to listen to it on a variety of platforms. Media can no longer be anchored." There will be some ramifications that don't seem quite so positive, however. "Users have to work at not being reachable, instead of the other way around."

Still, the Anywhere Consumer may find the convenience worth the bother. It all comes down to price - "the biggest challenge right now for mobile," according to Barone, "is that many users find it too expensive."

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Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.