Canadian carriers Rogers Wireless and Telus have integrated Bango Inc.’s mobile payment platform into BlackBerry App World to enable carrier billing for applications.

While mobile food ordering is still nascent, quick-service and fast-casual restaurant chains that have launched mobile applications with ordering capabilities have boosted the frequency and average size of customers’ orders.

The recently launched smartphone application from Whitbread’s Premier Inn has generated more than $1.6 million in total revenue in the three months since its January debut.

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. has launched financial applications for Research In Motion’s BlackBerry smartphones to enhance its customer service and boost its lead-generation initiatives.

With Google, MasterCard and Citi reportedly teaming up to go head-to-head with the U.S. carriers’ Isis joint venture with Discover Card and Barclaycard, a war in the near field communication space is on the horizon.

The battle between Research In Motion and wireless carriers over mobile-payment data is a precursor to a larger war over who owns consumers making transactions using mobile devices.

Sears Holdings Corp. is letting consumers buy online and pickup in-store via various mobile platforms, a key element of its strategy to drive sales by connecting its bricks-and-mortar stores to the digital world.

Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch has launched applications for Apple’s iPhone and iPad and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry devices for clients of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Merrill Edge.

NEW YORK – An NRG exec said his company tapped SAP AG to enhance its customer relationship management platform by adding mobile and social elements to its direct-to-consumer and business-to-business initiatives.

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.