eBay: Holiday mobile shopping triples

Mobile shopping at eBay this holiday season has tripled year-on-year, making the 2009 year-end festive holidays a "mobile commerce tipping point", the online auction site has reported.

In a statement released Monday, the company said 1.5 million items were bought worldwide via eBay mobile applications this holiday season. The purchases ranged from designer handbags to a 1966 Chevrolet Corvette sold at US$75,000.

During 2009, eBay buyers and sellers have generated over US$500 million of transactions using mobile devices, the Web specialist added.

"eBay buyers and sellers have rapidly embraced mobile commerce this year, and this holiday season has been a mobile commerce tipping point," Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay marketplaces, said in the statement.

eBay launched its mobile app in 2007 and subsequently developed applications for Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry.

According to eBay, its iPhone app has been downloaded into nearly 6 million Apple devices. There are also 750,000 unique visits daily to the e-commerce site via all types of mobile apps, it said in the statement.

Mobile commerce is gaining momentum in the United States, but over in Asia, an industry player noted in 2008 that it will take a few years before it can take off in the region due to the lack of collaboration between business entities in the mobile payment ecosystem.