Mobile Retailing News Weekly - Week of May 9, 2011

The Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retailing applications and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

Italy's main telecom operators have launched a common platform that will allow their clients to use mobile devices to pay for digital content and services by using their mobile accounts.  Telecom operators are increasingly aware that the mobile payment industry is growing and is estimated to be nearly $500 billion by 2014.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110509-709127.html

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Bling Nation has launched a social media element to its contactless Bling Tag offering. This element, FanConnect, is a rewards and loyalty application that intertwines contactless payments, social marketing and the ubiquitous Facebook page.

http://www.contactlessnews.com/2011/05/09/contactless-payment-scheme-enables-loyalty-via-facebook

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McDonald’s has announced that soon all franchises within the U.K. will be equipped with NFC capable registers.

http://www.nearfieldcommunicationsworld.com/2011/05/09/37284/mcdonalds-uk-goes-contactless-considers-nfc-loyalty-programmes/

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Near Field Communications is starting to be a feature more commonly supported by smartphones.  NFC phone shipments could approach 100 million units this year if Google’s projections for Android NFC smartphone shipments prove accurate.

http://4g-wirelessevolution.tmcnet.com/topics/4g-wirelessevolution/articles/172091-100-million-nfc-capable-devices-ship-2011.htm

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Bank of America now provides mobile banking applications for both Windows 7 smartphones and Apple’s IPad.

http://www.banktech.com/channels/229402713

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Current estimates show the number of global mobile payment users is at 116 million and In-Stat forecasts predict that number will grow to nearly 375 million by 2015.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Mobile-Payment-Users-to-Surpass-375-Million-by-2015-Says-In-Stat-1411270.htm

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Web only retailers, retail chains and consumer brand manufacturers with e-commerce sites will be significantly investing in mobile commerce this year advancing the retail channel that is inextricably weaving itself into the fabric of e-commerce.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/05/03/merchants-give-m-commerce-vote-confidence-investments

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Pyxis Mobile provides an agile, powerful, and secure mobile enterprise application platform.  It enables rapid cross-platform application development, unlimited data integration, enterprise-grade security, and the unique ability to change and update applications in real time.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Pyxis Mobile, http://pyxismobile.com/.

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Vodafone recently has equipped hundreds of London cabs with mobile payment capability in addition to phone chargers inside the taxi.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/communication-breakdown-10000030/vodafone-allows-mobile-payments-for-london-cabs-10022348/

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Research In Motion's new Bold 9900 and Bold 9930 smartphones are the first BlackBerry devices to support near field communication technology.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-devices/2011/05/03/rim-rolls-out-nfc-enabled-blackberry-bolds-40092651/

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Revenue from app stores owned by companies like Apple and Google is projected to hit $8.3 billion by 2014.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20059500-248.html

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.