Smartphone owners are more comfortable buying from their handsets, but poor mobile site functionality is still a turn-off for many, according to a report from Compete, a Kantar Media company. Compete's quarterly Smartphone Intelligence survey that suggests that mobile commerce is ready to explode in 2010. However, consumers are still more likely to abandon mobile purchasing on sites that are not optimized for the on-the-go experience. The survey also found that the most popular mobile shopping-related activities continue to be research related.

Danielle Nohe, director of consumer technologies for Compete. "We're seeing notable behavior differences across devices, so, for example, users of the Android operating system share different characteristics than Blackberry and iPhone enthusiasts. As manufacturers and marketers better understand how each group actually uses their devices, there's a huge potential in 2010 for mobile commerce to explode."

The Smartphone Intelligence survey provides behavioral and survey-based insight into how consumers are using their iPhones, Blackberries, Android devices and other smartphones. Key findings from Compete's Q3 2009 Smartphone Intelligence survey include the following:

• 37 percent of smartphone owners have purchased something non-mobile with their handset in the past 6 months.
• 19 percent of total smartphone owners have purchased music from their device, 14 percent have purchased books, DVDs, or video games and 12 percent have purchased movie tickets.
• 40 percent of Android owners and 51 percent of Blackberry owners would spend $500 or more to buy a product from their mobile phone, compared to nine percent of iPhone owners.
• The most popular mobile shopping-related activities are still research related - 41 percent of iPhone users and 43 percent of Android users are most likely to check sale prices at alternative locations from their mobile phones while they are shopping.
• The second most likely activity is accessing consumer reviews, with 39 percent of iPhone owners and 31 percent of Android owners investigating reviews from their handset before they purchase.