Only 9.2 million US mobile subscribers purchased goods or services with their handset, according to a 2008 Nielsen Mobile poll.
This is a low figure when compared with a JPMorgan projection of 233 million total subscribers. Even lower next to eMarketer's estimate of 270 million US mobile phone subscribers in 2008.
In fact, an Internet Retailer survey found that only 7% of online retailers had an m-commerce site in late 2008. Still, consumers are at least starting to grow comfortable with the idea of m-commerce. 71% of US adults felt that it was safe to make a purchase via their mobile phone, according to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Billing Revolution.
However, there is little consensus on what people are willing to buy on their "fairly safe" mobile devices.
In the Harris poll, 59% of respondents said they were willing to purchase pizza over a mobile phone; 58% said movie and event tickets, followed by hotel rooms (43%), fast food (42%), music (41%) and travel tickets (40%).
On the other hand, PriceGrabber.com research found that the most popular mobile purchases were digital mobile content such as ringtones and music, followed by consumer electronics, computers and related equipment, books, apparel and jewelry. (eMarketer, June 2009)
