50% of smartphone users ready for mobile commerce

iPhone with visa card attached

Buying on a smartphone is about to become a no brainer

A recent survey of consumer technology users “Consumer Technology Barometer: Mobile (Q3 2010)” conducted by ABI Research in the United States has revealed that nearly half of smartphone users say they have already, or soon will, use their phones to do mobile shopping. 53% also use, or intend to use, their smartphones for mobile banking.

“These are very exciting findings for merchants and service providers promoting mobile commerce,” says senior analyst Mark Beccue. “We see mobile commerce in the US finally starting to achieve a mass market appeal. It’s not just smartphone owners: non-smartphone mobile users’ interest in mobile banking and commerce services, while lower than that among smartphone owners, is also on the rise, with 17% of non-smartphone users surveyed using or intending to use mobile banking services.”

“These findings are part of a larger picture which quantifies smartphone users’ consistently higher use of a wide range of activities and features, from mobile browsing through multimedia to navigation,” notes primary research director Janet Wise. “Smartphone users behave differently. They score higher for all these activities ‘because they can’ (their devices are capable), and also because they have the money, resources, and time to do all these things.”

Mobile market strategies practice director Neil Strother adds, “Even advertising holds a growing attraction for mobile phone users, with about one third of those smartphone owners surveyed saying they have clicked on at least one mobile advertisement.”

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