With a history of embracing technologies such as QR codes and touchless NFC (Near Field Communication) readers, Japan is often ahead of the rest of the world in terms of mobile commerce. Now Square is betting that the advanced mobile market may be ready to embrace yet another innovation from outside its borders.

Lingerie and apparel retailer Fleur du Mal has launched a mobile commerce site that uses geolocation to provide consumers at one of the brand's local pop-up stores with a customized site that differs from the one other mobile visitors see. A pop-up store is a temporary bricks-and-mortar location, where a retailer rents a vacant storefront and sets up shop with limited merchandise. Fleur du Mal is planning to test pop-up stores around the country and globally in locations including Tokyo. The retailer is using the pop-up stores to help decide whether it wants to open permanent stores.

Developed East Asia - where we include Singapore, South Korea, and Japan - is home to some of the most adaptable and sophisticated mobile users in the world. These nations, collectively home to some 185 million citizens, are an increasingly important part of the evolving global mobile landscape, playing a role in software innovation and setting new consumer adoption trends into motion.

Global payment services provider DataCash (part of the MasterCard group) has signed a partnership agreement with MoPowered, a provider of mobile commerce services and mobile web optimization, to extend its mobile service across the UK. The collaboration with MoPowered will enable DataCash's merchants to use MoPowered's SaaS platform technology.

Convenience store chain 7-Eleven is putting a mobile application at the center of a summer-themed promotion, providing users an opportunity to access exclusive coupons and offers.

LevelUp, a mobile payments company, has partnered with NCR, a leading supplier of point-of-sale software in the U.S. Together, the two companies will focus on spreading mobile payments throughout the U.S. and getting consumers more comfortable with the concept of using their smartphones and tablets to pay for products. LevelUp, along with NCR, hopes to placate these concerns by providing consumers with a comprehensive mobile payments platform.

Walmart, the world's largest retailer, is using mobile technology to bring the power of ecommerce to its stores while remaining faithful to its customer-centric approach, Gibu Thomas, global head of mobile for the company, said at CTIA. And Walmart plans to make the most of an opportunity that will see mobile-influenced offline sales hit $689 billion by 2016.

Electronic payment services provider Vesta has launched its PayMobile wallet, a smartphone application that enables mobile operators to offer core financial services to their prepaid customers. Powered by partnerships with consumer brands Xoom, PreCash and Prepaid.com, the app builds on Vesta's core account reload platform to include money transfer, bill payment and international top-up services.

The mobile shopping market in China continues to grow, recording spending of 26.6 billion yuan (US$4.29 billion) in the first quarter. The entire year will see mobile spending grow to US$15.7 billion as more and more Chinese use mobile in their online shopping, according to a prediction by research company iResearch.

A Target executive at the CTIA 2013: Mobile Marketplace conference said that data and personalization will be key drivers in bolstering the mobile shopping experience across a variety of platforms.