Paying with Mobile Phones

Let your Mobile Pay for You
According to the research firm, The Nielsen Company, commerce over mobile devices such as cell phones is accelerating in the US. Already, 9 million US mobile subscribers say they’ve used their mobile phone to pay for goods or services, and half of all data users (49%) say they expect to participate in mobile commerce in the future.

Mobile websites are one popular way consumers make purchases over the mobile phone. Of the 40 million active US users of the mobile web in April 2008, 5 million accessed mobile shopping and auction websites – up 73% from April 2007, when just 2.9 million mobile users did so. Nielsen finds that auction site eBay.com is the most popular shopping or auction destination on the mobile web, with 3.4 million unique visitors in April.

Purchasing items via text messaging is another growing form of mobile commerce. Some services allow consumers to send text messages to a phone number or mobile shortcode to be charged for goods or services directly on their mobile phone bills. Already, 6.5 million US mobile consumers say they’ve used text messaging to purchase an item.

These findings are part of Nielsen Mobile’s monthly Mobile Insights survey of over 30,000 US wireless subscribers.