With the exception of apps, ringtones, and music, is it unanimous that mobile traffic isn't worth coveting.

I have bought some stuff on Amazon from my Droid before. It usually happens when my wife is looking at something in a store and I buy it on Amazon for less than it is in the store before she can get to the register. Can't remember buying from anywhere other than Amazon though.

Shop?  On occasion.  Purchase?  Only a song or two from iTunes.  Never retail.  I always wait until I get home to the desktop.

I've purchased a few things on the iphone, all amazon from memory. Apart from the usability issues it just doesn't  feel quite as secure.

i have done several times and at various places. Its getting easier to do so and i'm getting less patient to wait til I'm at a desk top

I have only bought train tickets on the phone

Just checked my Pizza pusher www.just-eat.com, which is a pan european network of take away joints. They don't have a mobile site or app.

Seem like like an obvious place to use mobile commerce with favorite menus and so on.

Also anywhere you need a ticket to get in seems obvious.

interesting.

when I use my phone to search 'to buy', I'm searching local... and I drop good cash, in relative terms.  But if you want to convert me to an online sale, I probably am going to do that at home. but in general, I use my phone to surf and my laptop to buy... and when I buy, I use google shopping, if its something mass produced.

BUT, if you give me a way to buy things securely, the same way I buy an iphone app, I would flip flop immediately.

A couple of Apps ..... I rarely seem to be in a situation where buying on the phone wills save me time. I am either near a desktop, or in transit between two desktops, or not worrying much about the internet at all.

Of course music, apps & ebooks... but also I've shopped on ebay, Amazon and a few other sites. Mostly when I *know* what I'm looking for to begin with though, because the tiny screen isn't ideal.

Teenagers sending more than 200 text messages on their phone per day (they are a lot more common than you think) will probably be early adopters of mobile commerce

I'm convinced it will reach critical mass this time. In the 90's I was at a web design company and we all got very excited about mobile, built sites for several clients, and it never happened.

Smartphones and CSS make it so much easier now, people use them because they're bored, rather than because they need to... and a lot of SME's want to go mobile, I'm running a series of breakfast seminars targetting the top end of SME's (basically companies who have decent websites, do marketing, have business value worth getting as a client) and they pay attention when you mention mobile, they list it as an interest on the feedback forms, and its the biggest motivator for claiming their Google Places etc. They are playing with it themselves and asking questions about how to do things - and these are predominantly 35-50 with kids, disposable income, but pretty mainstream guys. They also play with stuff like redlaser and those who don't have it already download it when you show them it!

That said, its not something I think most businesses need right now. I just wouldn't want to not have a plan which can be actioned, personally

I've shopped a lot on my iPhone but a lot of times I wait to actually buy until I'm home.  Besides ebooks and music I've bought stuff from both Amazon and Walmart on the iPhone.  Costco has an app coming out and that might get dangerous.

there's a little about mobile shopping (focussed on apps) at the end of todays SEL Black Friday article http://searchengineland.com/search-tips-for-black-friday-cyber-monday-56839 .

interesting that

QuoteMost major retailers (e.g., Target, Gap) have mobile shopping apps that can be used to find stores, check products and see what's on sale.

. Perhaps that's the easy route to test the market - if you can get n app out there enough its a nice way to avoid making your site mobile friendly in the short term - just make sure people can buy once the app sends them to a product page. If you're a big enough brand to get an app featured without a problem that might work nicely?

One of the big reasons I have had the Amazon app on my phone is to compare prices on items in the store.  Now Amazon has come out with Price Check by Amazon, which reads the bar code and checks the price.  Slick and most people trust Amazon.

Red Laser is another bar code reader app. that does a meta shopping search on iPhone.  (I keep forgetting I have that one.)

I think apps are great for big national stores. But I think smaller boutique shops would do better making a mobile version of their website along with some good SEO to push it.