Those mobile coupons keep coming, mainly because they work. Going through a new study by BI Intelligence confirms what various other research has been finding, that mobile coupons are small, but effective and growing. The study points out that the number of mobile coupons is expected to increase to 53 million a year by next year. More significantly is the redemption rate of 10% compared to the 1% redemption rate of traditional coupons. It's no secret that mobile coupons drive traffic to stores and that shoppers are attracted to and enticed by deals.

Inch by inch, various aspects of mobile payments are moving forward. Just over the last few days, a series of small, individual announcements have been made by different mobile payment entities. While none of these are earth shattering by themselves, it strikes me that taken together they provide an indicator of the day-by-day progress being made in the general area.