The smart set

“It’s a great opportunity for us for mobile selling-customers can complete transactions sitting on the plane,” says Jay Scannell, vice president of information technology at Skymall, which launched its m-commerce site, as well as a text messaging program, in July 2007 with the aid of CardinalCommerce. Later this year it will introduce a BlackBerry mobile app built with CardinalCommerce and Digby.

Skymall is ahead of the game when it comes to mobile applications, commonly called apps. Retail mobile apps are where m-commerce sites were three years ago-on the cusp of growth. But there’s no doubt mobile apps in general are popular: Apple’s App Store stocks 15,000 apps (including a handful for m-commerce, all free), with 500 million downloads since it opened in July. And Microsoft (Windows Mobile), Palm and Research in Motion (BlackBerry) are creating app stores for their devices.

Read more at Internet Retailer (posted Feb 26, 2009) The smart set