The menu of mobile commerce services at Starbucks will increase this year, with mobile tipping as and new ordering tools in coming months. The company also plans to leverage its mobile and social media efforts to drive consumers to its Teavana stores.

A new report on mobile wallets finds the leaders to be LevelUp, Starbucks and MasterCard's PayPass. Twenty mobile wallets from financial institutions, merchants, technology companies and card associations were evaluated based on payment capabilities such as how widely they are accepted as well as user experience.

Researchers analyzed the amount of time spent by consumers across more than 1,800 iOS and Android shopping apps in December 2012, compared to the same month a year earlier and found the biggest growth category by far was apps developed by retailers. The study found that the time spent in retail apps skyrocketed by 525 percent year over year.

The Russian state-owned railways monopoly, has just launched a free mobile app offering train schedules and allowing travelers to purchase electronic tickets. A click-to-call function allows users to reach the company's call center and a few clicks is enough to choose your train and indicate your name and pay by credit card.

France's mCommerce market rose to around EUR 1 billion in 2012 from EUR 400 million a year earlier, accounting for nearly 2 percent of all e-commerce sales and the number of e-commerce websites increased by 17 percent to 117,500.

One of the largest challenges that Australian companies had once faced is now being overcome through the use of mobile commerce, which has allowed retailers to reach out and connect with the massive Chinese consumer base.

Ecommerce is almost two decades old. Mobile commerce is what everyone's talking about. Stores are even offering apps that will keep updating the price of a product you are interested in through alerts on your smartphone. So when there's a huge price-off, you immediately get to hear about it instead of checking the website or visiting the store time and again. BC: "For once, I'm glad I don't carry a smartphone regularly. If people are going to be bombarded with deals, there's no getting away from them."

A San Francisco company launched a mobile drink ordering app, allowing consumers to place orders and pay for their drinks at select bars without having to wait in line. Since launch, the startup has been slowly adding local venues to the app. But it couldn't reach them all, so it just released a self-serve iPad app that bars can install on their own.

Retailers are increasingly shifting their point-of-sale to mobile devices in response to the growth in smartphone adoption and the need to create seamless shopping experiences across all channels, according to a new study, which underscores how the customer now defines the point-of-sale, with shoppers having more information and capabilities in the palm of their hands.

The Chief Operating Officer of Square is leaving the fast-growing mobile payments startup and the CFO will serve as acting COO while the firm searches for a permanent replacement.