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M-commerce usage varies by mobile brand, survey finds

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - 10:08 by Sarah Collinson

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A new report into the way in which mobile users shop online from their phones has discovered that some consumers are more likely than others to indulge in m-commerce depending on the brand of their particular smartphone.

Analysis from Retrevo.com has found that if you own an iPhone model from Apple, then you are more likely to carry out safe shopping online from your mobile, than if you use a smartphone based on the Google Android operating system or Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS.

Thirty-one per cent of people who own an iPhone buy products and services using their mobiles, compared to 28 per cent amongst Android users. BlackBerry sits at the bottom of the table with just 18 per cent of customer using the m-commerce tool.

Brand loyalty is particularly important to Apple customers, as Retrevo found that in homes where Mac desktop computers or laptops are used, the likelihood is that the inhabitants will have bought three times more iPhones than those homes in which Microsoft Windows PCs are more common.

The tech-savvy nature of Android users was confirmed by stats which show almost half own a netbook and this might also be the reason that fewer Android owners shop online using their mobiles, as they could just as easily do so from their ultra-portable PCs.

There are obvious questions to be asked about whether or not the discrepancy of safe shopping online usage between the rival manufacturers is down to the appropriateness of the tools or the willingness of the particular brackets of consumers.

Other studies have shown that iPhone owners are typically more affluent than others, because they can afford the expensive contracts which are required to participate in iPhone ownership. However, Android is steadily becoming more widely used than Apple's platform and future surveys may show Google overtaking the iPhone in the m-commerce sector.