The mobile platform wars heated up in a big way as 2012 came to a close. Among other trends, Microsoft launched Windows Phone 8, Android’s dominant market share grew, and mobile commerce reached record highs during the holidays. Read more »
Businesses interested in recreating the success of the Starbucks mobile app have a new option in Cardfree, a startup that is launching with $10 million and is led by a team that helped build the Starbucks mobile experience. Read more »
At GigaOM’s Roadmap conference Monday, Birchbox co-founder Katia Beauchamp and Warby Parker co-founder Dave Gilboa each talked about why their companies hadn’t yet released mobile apps and what they have in store. Read more »
Fab says it has “reimagined” its mobile apps, updating its app for the iPad and optimizing it for the iPhone 5. One-third of Fab’s sales come from mobile but it’s looking to when mobile shopping contributes half of its revenue. Read more »
Social commerce startup Wikets, backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Battery Ventures, is rolling out a new version of its app that builds out its shopping functionality. To date, it has focused on building a network of shoppers who ask for and make recommendations. Read more »
Pinterest, Fancy and plenty of other websites help shoppers find deals and inspiration for clothing they can buy online, but some early startups are developing mobile apps that encourage shoppers to make their fashion purchases in stores. Read more »
Armed with a new chief technology officer, and other new execs, One Kings Lane hopes to emerge as a leader of the mobile web. The company expects to double revenue to $200 million this year and says 25 percent of revenue comes from mobile. Read more »
Design shopping site Fab on Thursday released an updated version of its mobile app, which enhances social sharing, and it added Facebook connect to allow members to sign in with their Facebook credentials. The company said social and mobile are driving a lot of traffic. Read more »
Six months after launching its iPhone app, Etsy says that nearly one in five visits to its site comes from a mobile device. The company said that it has surpassed 1.5 million downloads of the app after reaching the million download mark two months ago. Read more »
Smartphones and tablets are driving both in-store and online commerce, but their roles are distinct in many ways. Nielsen shed some light on how consumers are using both devices to aid their shopping. Overall, 79 percent of respondents have shopped using their smartphone or tablet. Read more »
Rich people have phones, like apps and want to buy things using said phones. A study from the Luxury Institute offers some facts and figures around this “trend,” but what’s really worth pondering is how to create luxury mobile experiences to help drive commerce. Read more »
Payment start-up Clover is trying to radically cut down the time and steps it takes to check-out at retail sites from mobile devices, making it about as simple as an iTunes transaction. Clover today is releasing SDKs for native iOS and Android apps and mobile websites. Read more »
Mobile deals combine location-aware discounts with mobile marketing campaigns. What are the largest pitfalls in this promising space, though? Privacy and security issues must be addressed to assure consumers their purchases are secure and their location is being closely guarded. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Mobile payment joint venture Isis — the product of Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile — announced that Chase, CapitalOne and BarclayCard will place their credit, debit and pre-paid cards on the Isis wallet when it launches this summer. The card issuers cover 100 million card holders in the U.S. Read more »
In just a short time, modern tablets have become potent shopping tools that generate an outsize effect on online commerce. 2011 was the year that the tablet became an online retailer’s best friend as it emerged as the preferred device for many shoppers to make purchases. Read more »
Apple’s iOS mobile platform tends to sell more paid software than its rivals, and its biggest advantage might be a head start that Google, Microsoft or any other mobile competitor can’t do much to eliminate: iTunes. It’s also an advantage Apple likely isn’t done profiting by. Read more »
It’s often difficult to separate what will shape the future of payments from what is just hype. PayPal’s Scott Dunlap focuses on the “innovation clusters” to get past the hype and see where mobile payment technology will be taking us in the near future. Read more »
The momentum behind mobile payments is picking up but many of the newest challengers in the space are going to have to get over one nagging reality: consumers still trust their banks and credit card companies to drive the mobile payments market. Read more »
The numbers are starting to roll in, and it seems Apple had a very good holiday weekend. Waiting under the Christmas tree on Sunday was a gigantic pile of of new Apple customers, who promptly starting buying apps, playing games and shopping, according to new stats. Read more »
f people are buying through online retail sites on mobile, they’re most likely doing so on Apple devices, according to a new report. iPads and iPhones accounted for over 92 percent of online retail not originating from a desktop device in December, according to the study. Read more »
It’s Cyber Monday and servers are humming as shoppers head to their PCs, tablets and smartphones to find the best deals available. Scot Wingo from ChannelAdvisor discusses the e-commerce trends that have emerged over the last five days, known as the “Cyber Five.” Read more »
The 2011 holiday season that was kicked off earlier today (Black Friday) is proving to be a big boost for m-commerce as shoppers are using their smartphones, mobile apps and other devices to go bargain hunting according to various sources. Its the season of couch commerce. Read more »
Mobile users are increasingly getting used to buying products with their smartphones and tablets. But it’s not just smaller transactions. New studies show that users are getting comfortable with bigger purchases. The most expensive thing that respondents said they paid for on average cost $274. Read more »
The traditional ways that retailers and merchants reach out to users and how they expect them to discover, shop and pay are getting disrupted by mobile and social. And that’s created really empowered shoppers, who are using these tools to augment and alter their buying patterns. Read more »
Walmart is ramping up its mobile strategy and releasing a new iPhone app that provides new smart shopping lists, a budgeting tool and access to manufacturers coupons. It comes on the heels of Walmart’s first iPad app released late last month. Read more »
Investors are not the only ones who see Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) as a money maker these days. In a lawsuit filed today, a California company is… Read more at paidContent »
After turning down an acquisition offer, shopping assistant start-up ShopSavvy is moving ahead with plans to go it alone. It raised $7 million in a Series A round led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. ShopSavvy is looking to ride the exploding mobile commerce market. Read more »
PayPal has been down on near field communication for payments, saying it was avoiding NFC because it needs at least three to five years to get traction. But the company is softening its stance as it prepares to pitch retailers on its vision for in-store payments. Read more »
Despite the threat of online fraud, consumers are increasingly getting comfortable shopping online. ThreatMetrix and the Ponemon Institute did some consumer surveys and found that one-third of people said they plan on spending more online than they do in-store this year. Read more »
PayPal said consumers aren’t going to wait until Black Friday to get their shopping started. They’ll begin their gift hunting the day before on Thanksgiving using a mobile device. PayPal said this couch commerce will be the first holiday shopping spike this year. Read more »
The fact that we all have technology at our fingertips has caused a disintermediation within traditional commerce, and significant disruption for retailers big and small. Innovation is no longer an option. Rather, it is paramount to survival. Read more »
Retailers ignore social channels at their own risk, and a number of recent market trends have coalesced to make social commerce top of mind. These four approaches can help you leverage social commerce tools on your own site. Read more »
Consumers are increasingly using their tablets as shopping tools at home and on the go. So retailers and other advertisers who want to reach that lucrative market must address a few key ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Card.io is announcing the launch of a private beta program for mobile developers who want to integrate its visual swipe technology into their apps, allowing people to enter in their credit card information by just taking a picture of their card. Read more »
Shopkick, a location-based deals and reward shopping app, is going local, offering merchants free hardware that integrates with its loyalty service. In a deal with Shopkick investor Citi, the company is offering free installation of Shopkick signal boxes at 1,000 stores owned by local merchants. Read more »
EBay said it’s buying up the rest of e-commerce platform Magento in a bid to build a broader commerce operating system that spans online, mobile, social and local. EBay is looking to be the go-to resource for online and offline retailers, helping connect them to consumers. Read more »
Thanks to bigger selection, convenient return policy and addition of digital goods, Amazon is quickly sucking up more of our spending dollars. No it is not just me talking — data shows a sharp jump in per account spending and it is only the beginning. Bezos FTW! Read more »
Auction giant eBay said today that it will buy GSI Commerce, a provider of e-commerce and marketing services, for a whopping $2.4 billion in cash and debt. The deal is part of eBay’s continued makeover from an auctions-oriented company to an e-commerce platform. Read more »
Mobile will play a bigger role than ever during the U.S. holiday season, according to IDC, helping to drive $127 billion in sales. So it’s crucial that retailers tackle a few key challenges to effectively target consumers on their ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
