Square's decision to eliminate its flat monthly fee for merchants could see the company lose business to competitors such as Intuit, LevelUp and Groupon that still have competitive fee structures. By requiring all merchants to pay a per-swipe fee of 2.75 percent, similar to what the major credit card processors charge, Square is signaling the growing acceptance of mobile POS as a standard offering. As the market continues to mature, it is likely that other mPOS vendors will follow suit, bringing an end to lower credit card processing fees in mobile.

Abercrombie & Fitch, 1800Flowers, Netflix, Ancestry.com and Fanatics beat the five-click-to-purchase average on retailers' mobile sites with only two clicks to purchase, according to a report from LightningBuy. The "Mobile Commerce Conversion Index" ranked merchants on how likely it is that a consumer will complete a transaction from the merchant's mobile Web site. Twenty-eight of the top 100 Internet retailers did not even have a mobile commerce-enabled site, and some sites such as Costco required as many as nine clicks to complete a purchase.

Build-A-Bear is leveraging its SMS database this holiday season with a campaign that lets consumers build, share and buy customized stuffed animals while also opting in for future marketing. The retailer has rolled out a holiday-themed keyword and mobile Web experience to drive traffic to Build-A-Bear's mobile site. Build-A-Bear worked with Vibes on the campaign.

Mobile shopping continues to rise, with almost one-quarter (23%) of consumers planing to shop using a mobile device this year, up 44% from 2012, according to PriceGrabber's second Winter Holiday Survey. In addition, when respondents were asked to select all the ways they plan to shop for gifts, 88% said online from a desktop computer and 47% said they plan to visit brick and mortar stores, with 46% who plan to make fewer trips to retail stores this year. Another 23% of shoppers said they would be comfortable purchasing all of their holiday gifts using their mobile device this year. …

Ericsson has announced that MTN Rwanda has deployed its Converged Wallet m-commerce solution. The launch brings mobile financial services to MTN Rwanda's subscribers, including mobile phone users that do not have access to traditional banking services. Ericsson is providing the operator with Ericsson Converged Wallet, systems integration and operational support. Ericsson Converged Wallet enables MTN Rwanda to introduce differentiated mobile wallet end-user services to its mobile money customers. With Ericsson Converged Wallet, MTN can launch new offers and bundles that integrate telecom prepaid services with mobile money services. Ericsson has a strategic partnership with MTN Rwanda parent company, MTN Group, …

A report has now been published to reveal the results of a new study that has shown that tablet commerce continues to lead the way in overall mobile shopping and that iPads are making the biggest impact among consumers in terms of buying. The report placed specific focus on the amount of shopping that results from email marketing. The report was issued by Yesmail Interactive. What it determined was that among all of the transactions that have been driven by marketing emails, 16 percent were conducted through the use of a mobile device. Even more, it showed that tablet commerce …

Thirty-three-year-old Vivid Tjipura, a qualified state prosecutor, has scooped a R100 000 prize for a concept of using mobile airtime as an emergency form of payment for taxi fare. The service, called Airtaxi, advances airtime to minibus taxi commuters if they run out. Cape Town-based software development company Byte Orbit runs the Startup Knight competition for tech startups, currently in its second year. The "concept phase" category was introduced this year, along with the R100 000 cash prize. Airtaxi was selected as the winner after entries were narrowed down to eight finalists.

Not all of the top 100 e-retailers have mobile commerce web sites. 72 of the top 100 e-retailers, as ranked by the 2013 Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, have fully functional m-commerce sites optimized for smartphones, while 28 either have a mobile site that doesn't enable purchasing, a mobile-optimized home page on top of the desktop site, or no mobile site or optimization whatsoever, finds a team of five mobile analysts at mobile checkout technology vendor LightningBuy.

Sharper Image has a long history in specializing in high-tech products, but the retailer is entering into new territory that it has not yet explored. The retailer is set to launch its holiday catalog, which will feature a wide array of innovative gadgetry. While this is nothing new in and of itself, the catalog will be linked to a mobile commerce site, allowing consumers to purchase products they are interested from their smartphones and tablets.

The Ritz-Carlton is animating its print advertisements with augmented reality in the female Pan Arab magazine Sayidaty, which marks the first campaign of its kind for the brand in the Middle East. Through the help of technology from augmented reality brand Blippar, readers of Sayidaty are able to scan Ritz-Carlton ads or articles for a three-dimensional experience. The hotel chain's ability to reach women consumers on a more engaging level will likely secure interest in what is still a nascent market.