Mobile commerce will continue its growth in 2010

Analysts and industry insiders are predicting a big growth year for mobile commerce in 2010.

ABI Research ran a forecast of mobile sales of physical goods in North America in January 2009, which projected mobile commerce sales would reach $544 million in 2009, up 57 percent over 2008. But in October, it increased its forecast, saying sales would top $750 million in 2009, a 117 percent annual growth rate, showing that the space is growing faster than expected.

“The industry experts are predicting that mobile commerce is going to take off in 2010, and given our own indicators, we do too,” said Kevin Grieve, CEO of Mocapay, Denver. “We expect to see mobile commerce continue to grow in importance and adoption as retailers focus on their most loyal customers and stickiness.”

As big media brands and publishers scramble to come up with a strategy to monetize their content via mobile, various models are being explored, from pay-per-download applications to subscription services to micropayments.

Small screen for big screen
Rupert Murdoch is attempting to move forward with a paid model for Fox’s news content on mobile phones.

While mobile commerce will continue to grow in the media sector, the majority of the action in the space will continue to be in the retail sector.

“Mobile commerce will continue to increase in 2010,” said Nicola Smith, supervisor of emerging trends at Moxie Interactive, Atlanta. “Fifty-one percent of mobile commerce users have purchased consumer electronics via their mobile phone, and we continue to see that trend grow.

“Some of the highest purchase items on mobile are technology-based items such as PCs and laptops,” she said. “Look at Amazon—one of their highest selling items via mobile phones are flat-screen televisions.

“People go into the store to see the models, but then they go onto Amazon.com on their handset to compare prices—there’s an interesting cross-section between the brick-and-mortar and digital shopping environments.”