Mobile Commerce Daily interviewed Paul Zaengle, senior director of ecommerce at Columbia Sportswear, regarding the company’s mobile strategy in terms of commerce.

AreYouInterested.com’s iPhone application has been downloaded more than 100,000 times and thousands of dollars worth of virtual gifts are being bought daily, per a company executive.

A recent study from the Gartner Group shows that 59 percent of United States banks will be ramping up their mobile banking services within the next two years.

Mobile Commerce Daily briefs - Big in Japan acquires Snappr to expand ShopSavvy’s bar code scanning; and Aberdeen Group releases a guide for food retail technology.

New York City’s online grocer FreshDirect has made its debut into the mobile commerce arena with the launch of an iPhone application that lets users shop the store’s inventory on the go.

Mercedes-Benz Financial has expanded its personalized and convenient account management features to all of its customers using smartphones like iPhone, BlackBerry and other mobile devices with Internet capabilities.

Only about 10 percent of retailers are full mobile players, with services such as a mobile-optimized app and a mobile Web site with commerce capabilities, according to Rosetta research.

Mobile Commerce Daily writers polled their Facebook friends to see whether consumers are interested in buying goods and services via their mobile phones.

Best Buy, Steve Madden and Wet Seal will discuss their mobile strategies at the Mobile Boot Camp hosted by Mobile Commerce Daily and the NRF in San Francisco March 2. Registration is open.

Panda Express, a Chinese takeout chain with more than 1,300 locations in the United States, is running a pilot program to test the effectiveness of online and mobile ordering.