Facebook is one of the biggest technology success stories of the past decade – transforming from a social network with no apparent revenue model to a highly profitable, global phenomena.

In its last quarterly report, Facebook reported almost 1.5 billion monthly users, generating over $4 billion in revenue!

The amazing fact is that most of that revenue growth results from mobile advertising. more»

Most consumers these days are fairly comfortable shopping online, and storing their credit or debit card information for online payments.

However, these same consumers have not yet become comfortable with storing their card data in mobile apps. Concern about security of the apps has greatly limited their uptake. more»

As mobile becomes an increasingly popular channel for purchasing all sorts of goods and services, unfortunately mobile fraud is also rapidly rising.

In 2014, the fraud rate for mobile purchases rose 70% from 2013, reaching a level of 1.36%. And this is despite the fact that more than half of all fraudulent attempts are blocked.

According to the study from LexisNexis, one of the contributing factors is the complexity and variety of alternate payment methods used for mobile commerce. more»

Every year at this time, we see many lists predicting the hot trends for the coming 12 months.

This year one of the best and most thoughtful lists we’ve seen comes from Golden Gekko, a leading mobile solutions provider in North America and Europe.

Their forecast identifies 10 key trends that will influence and shape the mobile industry in 2015. Our industry continues to evolve at rapid pace, and this list provides a lot of good “food for thought”.
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Mobile payments seems to have remained “on the horizon” for several years.

Products like Google-Wallet and NFC were supposed to have revolutionized payments by now, but have either faded into obscurity or are just now starting to make any serious inroads.

So the question one has to ask is – does anyone really want mobile payments?

The answer is a resounding YES, it is the Millennial generation that is likely to finally drive adoption of new payment technology.
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For the past several years, Twitter has been used by many brands as a great way to keep in contact with their customers, build loyalty, and spread the brand message.

Now Twitter may take on a new role for companies, as the site makes moves to become a true m-commerce powerhouse.
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Very often we tend to focus on the newest, high-technology aspects of mobile marketing. Somehow it seems that the latest features must be the most important for attracting consumers.

But every once in awhile we see a campaign that reminds us that in fact, marketing is all about engaging people at an emotional level – this is what really counts.

Take a look at this campaign that was put together to help drive donations for the Anzac Appeal in Australia this year.
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Mobile commerce is all about making things easier and more convenient for customers.

Payment is often seen as a difficult step in commerce, so in recent years a lot of effort has been going into finding new and better ways to allow customers to pay.

Now PayPal and Starbucks are piloting a new payment scheme that may be the easiest ever, and it is based around the new Gear 2 smartwatch from Samsung.
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1 July, 2014
London, UK

Special Discount for MobiAD Readers!

Bringing together insight from sector newcomers , entrepreneurs, and the established financial powerhouses, WIRED Money will introduce, explain and predict the changes affecting the world of banking, finance and money. more»

One thing is certain about the world of mobile commerce and marketing – companies need to be able to adapt quickly and exploit new opportunities as they appear, or else they risk becoming obsolete.

One company that is doing just this is Monitise, a company that began in mobile banking, but now has grown to support mobile payments and mobile commerce. And soon, Monitise intends to turn banks in a “media channel”.
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As always, the MobiAD team attended the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona to uncover the key trends in the world of mobile. This year more than 85,000 attendees from over 200 countries were there, making it by far the largest MWC ever.

Here is our take on four of the most interesting trends that we spotted at the show, subjects that we believe could well be important for MobiAD subscribers to follow over the coming year, including Internet of Things, m-Payments, Mobile Marketing, and Mobile For Development.
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8 to 9 April, 2014
Canary Wharf, London, UK

Mondato Summit Europe is an exclusive C-level mobile financial services (MFS) conference with an emphasis on Networking, Problem-Solving, Innovation and Investment. more»

Over the past few years, Africa is experiencing a resurgence, especially in the area of mobile services. Africa contains some of the world’s fastest growing economies, and the mobile sector is an essential contributor of this growth.

MEF Africa is releasing a series of country specific market reports – the first of which highlights Kenya, home of the phenomenally successful m-Pesa payment system! more»

Mobile Retail is a hot area now, with merchants and technology providers around the world looking for ways to improve the engagement of customers in retail stores.

PayPal, one of the world’s leading payments companies has recently announced Beacon, a new mobile retail product based on Bluetooth, which could lead to much smoother interaction in store.
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Are the new technologies of mobile banking, contactless payments and social media changing the way people bank?

Over the coming years, this issue will have an important impact on marketers and merchants everywhere.

This in-depth survey from ING International provides some surprising answers and a better understanding of this important emerging consumer trend. more»

American superstore-chain Home Depot is focusing much of its efforts on increasing mobile spending, its chief marketing officer Trish Mueller announced at the recent mobile marketing conference.

The company, which has been a long-term and early-adopter of mobile technology within its marketing currently targets customers via a six-pronged mobile approach: web, apps, search, social media, email, and advertising.
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Starbucks is the latest corporation to report big successes in its mobile payment transactions, averaging over three million a week in the United States.

The coffee giant is hoping to attract further use of the system over the coming months, with a number of promotions – most notably, a rewards system that’ll earn customers points for each transaction made via mobile. more»

While eBay’s first quarter results may have been a disappointment for some, the company dispelled fears in the mobile community with figures pointing to massively increased numbers of mobile users.

The auction site gained roughly 2.8 million new mobile users in that period. And the company saying it expects to generate around $20 billion each from mobile commerce and mobile payments this year. more»

Recently venerable American Express partnered with social media powerhouse Twitter to let consumers purchase simply using #hashtags! more»

Two banks have unveiled technology that allows customers to withdraw cash from ATMs without using a bank card. Users of NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) can now request up to £100 cash using only their smartphones. more»

France Telecom has announced that it has passed 4 million users of Orange Money, its m-payment service.

Launched over 4 years ago, the service allows users to manage electronic money via their mobile device and is now also launching in Jordan and Mauritius. more»

Mobile Payments has been receiving an increasing amount of attention in the media recently, both for mobile commerce and for person-to-person money transfers.

Two recent product launches in the UK of Barclaycard Pingit and O2’s mobile wallet have raised public awareness even more.

Here we take a look at the functionality offered by these apps, and how well they actually perform in today’s real world.
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As has become a tradition in recent years, Chetan Sharma has produced his annual Mobile Industry Predictions Survey.

Each year, Chetan contacts a wide variety of leaders in the mobile industry to see what they feel will be the key trends in the upcoming year, as well as what they thought were the most interesting and important developments during the previous year.

It always makes for interesting reading!
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As mobile commerce continues its rapid adoption by more and more companies, consumers’ comfort with paying by mobile will become increasingly important.

An interesting infographic released by mobile banking solution provider Intuit provides an informative look at consumers’ current payment behavior and preferences, and how these are evolving towards mobile payments. more»

In the US the Monday after Thanksgiving has come to be known as Cyber Monday because of large amount of online sales that take place on this day.

But over the last few years, as consumers get more familiar with mobile technology, there has been an increase in mobile transactions on the Monday after Thanksgiving, thus giving way to the new term, Mobile Monday.

Here are some highlights on the growing trend of mobile commerce. more»

A recent survey in the UK by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has found that the value of mobile transactions is rapidly increasing, although the overall uptake of mobile commerce remains relatively flat.

During the past year, the average value of mobile transactions has risen from £12.20 to £17.49, an increase of 43%. more»

A new study from market research firm Juniper forecasts that the number of mobile consumers paying by phone for goods and services is set to grow very rapidly over the coming few years.

However, the increase will not be uniform across the world, with certain areas growing more rapidly but others seeing higher value payments.
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A recent study of UK shoppers has found that consumers now prefer shopping via their mobile device rather than over the PC internet.

And the difference is very strong: for users aged 25 to 35, mobile is preferred 3 to 1 over regular online! more»

Global mobile advertising network InMobi has moved into the world of Mobile Commerce, with the announcement of their SmartPlay mobile payment solution.

SmartPay is intended to help mobile app developers and content providers to expand their business and monetize their users across multiple international markets. more»

FirstPartner, a UK based research agency has released a very interesting “map” of the mobile payments industry.

The map provides a overview of how mobile commerce and mobile payments is growing as well as who are the key players, and is a good resource for anyone who is interested in this part of the mobile industry. more»