More smartphone owners prefer mobile websites over apps for shopping. And the number of those choosing sites over apps is increasing, based on a new study. When shopping on a smartphone, the majority (63%) of consumers prefer a retailer's mobile website while slightly more than a third (37%) prefer the app, according to the research.

This past holiday season again highlighted the significance of mobile on shopping patterns, which may be on track to at least one tipping point. A new forecast now has mobile accounting for a full half of all U.S. digital commerce revenue within two years. That would be an increase from the 22% of digital commerce revenue attributed now, according to research firm Gartner.

There has forever been somewhat of a lag in technology adoption, and mobile commerce is no exception. Another recent study reminded me that the adoption timeframe is a distance from the technology introduction.

Beaconing is one indicator of what a piece of the future of mobile commerce might look like. Rather than information being pushed to a consumer at some random time or location, beacons are starting to be used to pre-identify what information or service a shopper may need and provide that information at the most relevant moment.

As I tapped my iPhone 6 at a checkout register while making a quick purchase at a convenience store over the weekend, it again struck me the distance this process still has to go. The beauty of using NFC in the iPhone is that no app or anything else has to be loaded, it just takes a quick tap of the phone to the terminal where credit cards are routinely swiped. Of course, that means the particular checkout hardware has to be one that takes Apple Pay.

Mobile payments may not be mainstream everywhere, but they sure are rolling at Starbucks. In the course of reporting its financial results for the latest quarter yesterday, Starbucks noted that the company added 896,000 new My Starbucks Reward members, taking the total to more than 9 million. Perhaps more significantly, Starbucks said it is hitting around 7 million mobile transactions a week with more than 13 million customers actively using the company's app.

More consumers are using their phones in the course of their grocery shopping. And that phone usage is happening to research and select products, check prices and get coupons along the way, based on a new study. based on a new study. Cashing in those coupons also is more likely to be via mobile, with more than half (69%) of consumers saving coupons on mobile rather than printing them, according to NinthDecimal Mobile Audience Insight Report.

To say there is a lot happening in the world of beacons would be a great understatement. There are new beacon deployments and announcements almost every day. While beaconing programs are being rolled out and tested in all types of locations, including stores, museums, libraries and airports, new ways to use beacons are being introduced and announcements about new programs and alliances are being made.

Many mobile consumers in stores want on-demand communication, personalized promotions and don't trust salespeople. These tidbits are among a range of mobile insights from a four-year study just completed and handed out at the NRF Big Show recently. The IBM Institute for Business Value study comprised an analysis of survey data from more than 100,000 consumers in 19 countries.

At a mall over the weekend, I happened by a couple of Coke machines that offered multiple payment methods. After selecting a drink on the machine's touch screen, you could pay by a number of ways, including cash, credit card, Apple Pay or Softcard. I watched as several people came to the machine, selected a drink, swiped their credit card and out came the drink.