The Mobile Marketing Association and Luth Research have published research that shows about a fifth of US adult mobile phone owners have used their handsets for shopping (mobile commerce or 'm-commerce') in the last month.

It's defining mobile commerce as "the one- or two-way exchange of value facilitated by a mobile consumer electronic device, which is enabled by wireless technologies and communication networks."

The new survey found that 17% of respondents used their mobile phone to purchase applications, ringtones and other digital content. 6% used their phone to receive coupons or discounts and 6% used their mobile phone to purchase physical goods or non-mobile content/services.

Gartner's latest report into worldwide mobile phone sales says end-users bought 314.7 million devices in the first quarter of 2010, 17% up on the same period in 2009. Smartphone sales rose 48.7% to 54.3 million units.

Hong Kong-based manufacturer G-Five made its debut in the top 10, while an increase in OEM 'white box' manufacturing has seen the 'others' category increase.

A recent survey by LG – published as part of the launch campaign for the LG Optimus - says people using the Android operating system are particularly keen on applications that save them money. 25% of people surveyed said they most wanted a money-saving app (e.g. one that offers discount codes), followed by apps that saved time (9%) and apps to help them stay fit (9%). In fourth place were 'apps that help you shop for dinner' (8%) followed by apps for gaming (6%).

Chetan Sharma Consulting has published its Q1 2010 update on the US wireless data market. It says mobile data service revenue was up 5% on the previous quarter and 22% year-on-year, exceeding exceed $12.5 billion (around £8.6 billion) and on track to hit $54 billion for the year.

In addition, it notes that Verizon Wireless has overtaken NTT DoCoMo to become the world's biggest mobile data operator by data revenues.

New research from Gartner says world revenue from mobile gaming is expected to exceed $5.6 billion this year. That's a 19% increase from last year's total of $4.7 billion. Growth is expected to continue for the next few years; in 2014 the market is projected to have reached $11.4 billion.

Gartner estimates 70% – 80% of all mobile consumer applications downloaded are mobile games, although 60% to 70% of these downloaded games are free.