Global tablet revenues will exceed $49 billion worldwide by 2015, with North America, Asia-Pacific and Western Europe leading the way as the most valuable regions for tablet vendors, according to Strategy Analytics.

Worldwide mobile device sales to consumers exceeded 1.6 billion units in 2010, a 31.8 percent increase from 2009, with smartphones leading the way, according to Gartner Inc.

Motorola’s annual holiday survey found that when shoppers received guidance from a retail associate equipped with a mobile device, more than four in ten reported the device improved their shopping experience.

What are the key trends with mobile applications and what will Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion and others do that will affect brands in their marketing and commerce?

Mobile Entertainment Forum has launched a new mobile commerce initiative to help brands and retailers understand how to leverage mobile to drive customer acquisition, retention and conversion.

Contactless chip technology provider Inside Contactless is making its Open NFC commercial-grade NFC protocol stack available in a free and open source edition.

A Motorola Inc. Enterprise Mobility Solutions research study found that more than 50 percent of consumers across 11 countries used their mobile devices for in-store holiday shopping activities.

J. C. Penney Co. Inc. is letting shoppers ring up savings at the register using their mobile phones with a 2D-bar-code coupon program.