The introduction of custom apps for the smartphone diverted resources away from ecommerce, stymieing its growth. It also slowed down mobile commerce adoption.

Apps, games, music and ebooks currently dominate mobile commerce, but mobile as a medium for sales of physical goods and services is growing, driven in the near term by mobile ticketing for events and travel, per Gridley & Co.

Paint company Modern Masters offers products for the home furnishings and hardware industry and the brand recently made its inventory available for purchase on its branded mobile Web site.

Shopatron’s analysis of multichannel holiday shopping for its 800-plus brand clients found that mobile represented 2 percent of sales in the period from Nov. 17 to Dec. 6.

EBay’s acquisition of Critical Path is yet another move on the part of the auction platform to cement its position as a formidable force in the mobile commerce market.

The University Co-op, a retailer of University of Texas merchandise targeting students and fans, has launched a mobile-optimized, commerce-enabled Web site.

Savvy retailers are waiting with baited breath to find out whether the boom in ecommerce sales on Cyber Monday will translate to increased transactions via commerce-enabled mobile sites and apps.

Ultimate Survival Technologies has debuted a mobile commerce platform to drive sales of its camping, hiking, hunting and adventure products.

While mobile commerce is still nascent, retailers and merchants that have integrated mobile into their overall strategy are generating tangible ROI for their brands.

Consumer purchases through mcommerce are not likely to experience a big drop-off even as overall spending slumps, according to Kantar Retail.