Online sales from mobile devices are expected to exceed $41 billion in the United States this year, representing a significant opportunity for online sellers who are able to provide a good mobile user experience. This month, eMarketer revised its U.S. retail ecommerce sales estimates upward, reporting that Internet sales originating from smartphones and tablets could now account for 16 percent of all American ecommerce purchases, excluding travel and ticket sales. The eMarketer data puts total U.S. retail mobile ecommerce sales at $41.68 billion for 2013.

The payment processor Heartland Payments has joined forces with e-commerce platform Bigcommerce to launch an online storefront meant to help small and medium-sized businesses compete with larger merchants. Heartland describes its new Heartland Online Storefront as a fully integrated omnicommerce solution that allows merchants to launch online stores in less than an hour or upgrade their existing e-commerce sites with advanced shopping cart functionality and other features. The storefront includes a mobile-optimized website, fully integrated secure payment processing, digital marketing tools such as search engine optimization, promotions and coupons, email marketing and integration with eBay and social networks such as …

Givenchy, the luxury design label, announced that it is launching a women's wear mobile commerce application for the iPhone and iPad and that it will be available for the fall of 2013. This app is designed to provide women with a way to shop and make purchases of their favorite pieces. It is a fully transactional mobile commerce app and will be available in English, French, German, and Chinese. It will have a number of delivery options that will add to the convenience for high end shoppers. These include international delivery options so that shoppers from around the world will …

F1Soft International has partnered with Hypertag Solution to provide mobile wallet and remittance technology to the Bangladesh Commerce Bank. The agreement, allows the bank to use F1's Transborder System to offer online and real-time mobile money services and the bank will also connect an international money transfer system for international remittances, banglanews24.com reports.

NFC technology has been getting a lot of attention lately, especially as the technology becomes more common in smartphones and tablets. NFC has been gaining momentum in marketing for some time, but also forms the backbone of most mobile commerce platforms. The technology facilitates data transfers over short distances, which is quite useful for people looking to share pictures, music, and videos with their friends through their mobile devices. NFC supports mobile payments through the same process of data transfer. Though NFC has been gaining ground with consumers and has helped mobile commerce becomes a global phenomenon, the technology may …

Belgacom and financial services provider BNP Paribas Fortis are jointly developing a mobile commerce 'ecosystem' for Belgian merchants and consumers to enable shopping and payments via smartphones. The companies selected Accenture to help build and launch a mobile platform that will enable Belgian consumers to use their mobile devices to make in-app payments, receive tickets and coupons, and participate in loyalty programs for mobile shopping. Under the terms of the agreement, Accenture will help Belgacom and BNP Paribas design and build a mobile wallet and platform based on the Accenture Mobility platform.

According to the results of a survey that was conducted among consumers in Singapore, there has been a considerable rise in the number that are using their smartphones for mobile commerce purposes over the last year. The study that was conducted by the research firm, Nielsen, determined that when compared to the same period in the previous year, the popularity of mobile commerce had risen to 31 percent after having been 24 percent at the same time in 2012. This placed the Singapore city state well ahead of other countries within that same region.

There was a time when the word 'smartphones' triggered a spell check in computers, usage of the word is fairly common among people nowadays. It is a word that changed the way we used to look at our phones. Calling, messaging and listening to music are not the only things we do on our phones nowadays. The number of smartphone users is ever-increasing all over the globe. Many markets, especially the developed ones like US and UK, have already reached a point of saturation, where more than 50% of the population now owns a smartphone of some kind. Consumers in …

Mobile apps have enjoyed phenomenal and increasing popularity in recent years, but what we've seen so far is just the beginning, according to a new Gartner report. Specifically, mobile app stores will see annual downloads reach 102 billion in 2013, the research firm reported on Thursday, up from 64 billion in 2012. Total revenue in 2013, meanwhile, will reach US$26 billion, up from $18 billion in 2012, it predicted. Free apps will account for 91 percent of total downloads in 2013, it noted, and -- particularly startlingly -- in-app purchases will account for a full 48 percent of app store …

Fast food chain Blimpie is trying to attract millenials and stay relevant with customers by placing offers and prizes within a new mobile game application. The game, Blimpie Run, is available for Android and Apple devices and features the quick-service restaurant's mascot Del E. Fresh running through different cities to collect ingredients on the way to a Blimpie shop. Users can win free subs for a year as well as other offers at Blimpie stores.