EBay is turning to its same-day delivery mobile application to let consumers look for and purchase last-minute Father's Day gifts. Via the eBay Now app, consumers can make purchases and have them delivered anywhere in the city in about an hour. Currently, same-day delivery is only offered in San Francisco, New York and San Jose.

Mobile devices are edging closer to fulfilling their long-delayed promise as digital wallets. Consumers are beginning to see the advantage of channeling offline payments through their mobile devices, rather than carrying around clunky coins and cash - even debit and credit cards. We think mobile payments are poised for takeoff, for three main reasons.

With the onset of the mainstream internet and e-commerce, shopping began to change. And with the added proliferation of mobile e-commerce in recent years, the former concept of shopping as a physical, location-based activity began rapidly changing, further transforming into what it is now: pervasive, on-the-go, and 24/7. Because of that, retailers desperately need a strong online presence in order to be available to the constantly searching, scrolling, typing, clicking, zooming, and browsing catalog of consumers. Online video, and most recently shoppable video, play increasingly significant roles in this effort, but so do well-designed, mobile-optimized websites with easy-to-navigate user interfaces, …

Dan Brower fished a much-awaited check from his mailbox but didn't have time to swing by his bank's branch. So the Kansas City resident fired up his 2-week-old iPhone, and with just a flick of his finger - disappointment. Commerce Bank's mobile banking application doesn't accept deposits. And what about those who don't have a bank? No problem. There's a mobile banking app for that, too. It's a new mobile wallet feature on Boost Mobile phones from Sprint Nextel Corp. that taps into a venture backed by Leawood, Kan.-based Euronet Worldwide Inc.

Sephora is letting consumers collect their favorite products, organize them in one place and keep track of online and in-store purchases through its new My Beauty Bag initiative. My Beauty Bag lets consumers keep track of their most love and purchased products at their fingertips, whether they want to access it online, in-store or via their mobile device.

German-based Otto Group plans to upgrade its mobile commerce capability and launch more niche e-commerce sites in core categories such as apparel and home and furnishings. Otto also plans to expand further in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia, where Otto began developing a direct marketing base about seven years ago. Going forward, mobile commerce also will be a big driver of more web traffic and sales for Otto.

A mobile commerce services provider announced that KupiKupon, a provider of daily deals in Eastern Europe and a rival of Groupon Russia, partnered Celltick to publish intelligently targeted mobile coupons to millions of consumers across Russia and Ukraine. KupiKupon will have its mobile coupons published through Celltick's distribution and publisher partnerships by using Celltick's Real Time Coupon Server. Celltick's patented technology will allow KupiKupon to aim deals and offers for physical goods and services at consumers based on the location and demographics of each mobile handset user.

Around the globe today there is no shortage of clever SMS ideas translating to smart business. Look no further than India for evidence of the power of SMS in mass transportation. Train passengers will soon be able to use their mobile phones to book tickets through a simple text-messaging-based facility or a menu-based dialing service.

A Build-A-Bear Workshop executive at the 2013 MultiScreen Summit said that QR codes on marketing pieces such as direct mail and Web give consumers an incentive to come in-store to unlock customized content. The executive's keynote session presented a look at how the retailer is using mobile and digital elements to elevate the shopping experience. Build-A-Bear is specifically using mobile to target its core group of girls aged 8 - 10 years old, who are increasingly becoming more tech-savvy.

It wasn't the huge mobile payment announcement some hoped for, but Apple did at least take a small step towards making mobile commerce easier. At the Apple Worldwide Developer's Conference yesterday, the company announced updates to its Safari browser that will ship with the new OS X Mavericks version of its operating system. Included in Safari is a new feature called iCloud Keychain, a mobile-wallet-like feature that will allow users to save passwords and sync them across their Apple devices, be they laptop, tablet or phone. The information is fully encrypted and makes it easier for users to log in …