There is an on-going revolution happening in the mobile web industry right now as observed by mobile research firm, Taptu.  According to Taput’s “State of the Mobile Touch Web” report, for the last six months a rise on the mobile touch web has been happening. What’s interesting is that this revolution is not attached to any carrier, handset or platform but rather on the mobile web content itself.

Based on the findings of their report, Taptu said that there are now around 360,000 touch-friendly sites making up what it calls as the mobile touch ecosystem or those contents designed specifically for mobile touchscreen devices.

Taptu also compared these statistics with those of the applications in the iTunes and Android market. And with around 148,000 iPhone apps and 24,000 Android apps it seem that the browser-based web market is growing much faster than the app market and that users prefer to partake of the online industry using their mobile phone’s browser to access mobile browser friendly content sites than the device-centric mobile phone apps.

I don’t know about you, but I found Taptu’s quite surprising since I have this notion that mobile apps are more used than browser-based mobile websites. Actually Taptu has an explanation to this. According to them, businesses are embracing the mobile touch web because these touch-friendly sites do not restrict usage by device types. Meaning, these sites are universally available to anyone with a handset device that has a mobile web browser.

With the  Black Friday  shopping craze in the U.S. finally over, it’s now time to look into some figures that were derived out of all the online retail e-commerce transactions by online retailers that participated. According to comScore, there was a total of $595 million online sales on November 27, Black Friday.   This makes Black Friday as the second heaviest online spending day for 2009.

This year’s Black Friday online sales represents an 11% increase against last year’s Black Friday sales data. Overall spending now amounts to $10.57 billion – a 3% increase from last year’s data. More →

If there’s one good thing the came out of the recently ended recession, that has to be the proliferation of members-only online shopping sites. And guess who are supplying their wares? None other than the makers of luxury goods which have found a new avenue to sell their goods particularly the overstocks which remained in their inventory.

Thanks to private online shopping site such as Gilt Groupe, Rue La La, and Ideeli, luxury brands have found their way to fashionistas who were forced to tighten their belt during the economic recession. More →

I’ve created an Amazon Associate account a long time ago but never get to earn significantly from the referral program. The only time I got a commission from a sales coming from Amazon links from my blog is when a friend click on the link and actually purchase the product online.

Fast forward to now. Amazon Associates has launched a new feature that might actually give us easier way to gain commission. And this feature is called – Share on Twitter. More →

Amazon.com, Inc. announced its latest mobile offering for customers– “Amazon App for BlackBerry,” which is now available as a free download. Designed specifically for the BlackBerry, the app offers customers who use a BlackBerry device with a track ball a quick and simple way to find, discover, and buy products from Amazon.com and thousands of other retailers.

BlackBerry users can also now access the Amazon Remembers feature for a fun and easy way to build a list of photographs showing products they want to remember for later, make price comparisons across multiple merchants, and purchase.

Amazon Remembers helps customers keep track of items they see in their daily lives and even tries to match photos of products to the same or similar products available on Amazon.com. Customers simply snap photos with their BlackBerry and the photos are automatically uploaded to Amazon.com, which then tries to find products similar to the ones in the photos. As soon as the customer receives the results, they can then purchase the item immediately or “remember it” for later in their Amazon account.

Billeo Inc. announced the availability of Billeo for the Apple Mac. Billeo’s browser plug-in allows users to set up a “one stop shop” transaction center with stored account information, card data, reminders, saved receipts and much more. Billeo also announced that the company has integrated community learning as part of Billeo’s save receipt feature. With this feature Billeo continuously learns from the community of Billeo users to automatically categorize your web receipts based on the most popular selections other users have made.

Billeo is the first product for the Mac that goes beyond one-dimensional password and filing tools to focus on what most users want—a way to make the everyday tasks of filling passwords, paying bills and making purchases online quicker, easier, and more organized. Billeo includes bill reminders, password management, form filling, bill pay and shopping directories, auto-save of receipts, search of receipts saved, and transaction charts and reports. Billeo does all of this without the tedious data entry, complexity and time required of all-in-one personal finance products. Billeo for the Mac is Firefox native, taking advantage of Firefox performance and quality and the stylized Mac user interface.

E-commerce payment solutions and social network gifting platform developer Socialwise, Inc. has finalized the production version of BillMyParents payment system. The system is set to go live wit its e-commerce partners soon.

BillMyParents is a safe, easy and secure way for kids to shop online, while enabling parents to track and maintain control of expenditures. Using BillMyParents, kids can shop online without a credit card and use the system to send purchase requests to Mom and/or Dad. Parents are notified of the potential item to be purchased, and can approve or decline the purchase, staying in control of their child’s online purchasing activities. If the purchase is approved, the parent can then enter the relevant credit card information and the BillMyParents system completes the transaction.

Concurrent with planned launch activities, Socialwise is working on continued enhancements to the system. These improvements include adding more security features and enhancing performance, scalability and ease of use, with the goal of establishing BillMyParents as the preferred payment utility for kids and parents.

Online video e-commerce marketplace for emerging designers and unique finds Shopflick has launched its new signature online video series: “The Hall of Style with Davida Hall.”

Hosted by fashion expert Davida Hall, the show offers a fast and opinionated guide to finding, wearing and buying the best new products, designers and trends. Each episode highlights the “must have” finds worthy of induction into the “Hall of Style,” while helping viewers feel empowered, informed and entertained.

Hall, who is also Shopflick’s Editorial Director, scours the fashion landscape for great finds. Taking fashion from the runway to reality, she offers creative ways to get unique, fun looks without hefty price tags. The Show can be seen on Shopflick.com where visitors can “shop the show” and purchase all featured products with a click of a mouse.

“The Hall of Style” has already attracted a high-profile line-up of celebrity guests and experts, including Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian, fashion editor Caroline Ryder, entertainment reporter, Marcellas Reynolds, LA retail legends, Diane Merrick and Tracey Ross, Levi Strauss & Co. Marketing Director, Sheri Timmons, Gen Art National VP, Jen Egan and celebrity stylists Johnny Wujek (Katy Perry, Naomi Campbell) and Simone Harouche (Nicole Richie, Christina Aguilera).

In Episode 1, “Hot High Heels,” Hall and Shopflick Merchandising Director Courtney Lowe show how to find and wear stylish, sexy, high heels without breaking the bank. Future episodes explore a range on themes, including dressing green, the perfect accessory for any ensemble and how to find the everyday IT-bag.

What economic turmoil? The world’s first transparent luxury marketplace JamesList.com has launched,, allowing discerning buyers to find and compare high-end cars, watches, boats, yachts and aircraft from dealers around the world.

“Given the recent roller-coaster of currency and market fluctuations, we saw an opportunity to give serious buyers the tools they need to find premium goods at the best possible price, regardless of where they are in the world,” said Noam Perski, CEO of JamesList. “We have brought together the world’s best dealers, from Alain Class Motors in Dubai to International Yacht Collection in Monaco to offer international buyers a complete marketplace.”

JamesList features state of the art search technology to let buyers quickly find the objects they are looking for, even rare watches such as the Paul Newman Rolex Daytona, hard-to-find cars like the Maserati MC12, Mustang Shelby, Ferrari Superamerica or magnificent 120+ foot yachts from Palmer Johnson. The more than 350 global Dealers on JamesList range from high-end custom builders such as Orange County Choppers and Kahn Design to traditional dealers with exceptional inventory such as ExecuJet and Lamborghini Stuttgart.

JamesList has offices in Stockholm, Sweden and Marbella, Spain. The site is available in English, German and Russian with more languages to follow. Important functions for international deal making such as currency and unit conversion are built in to the heart of the platform.

Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, announced a key milestone in its expansion of the Second Life platform by acquiring two web-based marketplaces for virtual goods, Xstreet SL and OnRez.

These acquisitions join several other recent strategic initiatives, including enhancements to the experience for new users, which will enable Linden Lab to reach a broader global audience for Second Life in 2009. Linden Lab is consolidating the two marketplaces on the Xstreet SL platform, offering one online shopping experience for customers and merchants. This will make it easier for Second Life residents to find virtual goods to purchase and will provide merchants broader channels to sell their products.

In 2008, Residents of Second Life purchased and sold more than USD $360 million of virtual goods and services. Shopping for virtual goods has become one of the most compelling and popular aspects of the Second Life experience. The acquisition of these e-commerce sites will aid the continuing growth of the Second Life economy by making it even more convenient for buyers and sellers to transact virtual goods and services online.