In case you haven’t noticed, most people today are doing their shopping online. This is the new age of consumer buying and apparently some sectors are trying to bite into the craze, enhancing mobile interface options to get in with the times.

In PriceGrabber.com’s March 2009 survey, nearly 58 percent of online consumers currently own a mobile phone capable of connecting to the Web. Of the online consumers with Web-enabled phones, 21 percent own a smartphone, 8 percent own an iPhone, and 29 percent own another type of Web-enabled phone. Forty-two percent of survey respondents said they own a non-Web-enabled phone capable of using voice and text service plans only.

Web-enabled phones have become increasingly mainstream, and much of this popularity can be attributed to the release of the iPhone. The iPhone, released on June 29, 2007, jump-started mainstream smartphone adoption, with 75 percent more online consumers purchasing their first Web-enabled phone in 2007 compared with 2006. Despite the economic climate, 8 percent of online consumers purchased their first Web-enabled phone in the first quarter of 2009.

Smartphone and iPhone owners are comfortable using the mobile Internet to make purchases. Fifty-six percent of Apple iPhone owners and 28 percent of smartphone owners already are comparing prices online with their mobile phones. Additionally, 27 percent of iPhone owners and 35 percent of smartphone owners anticipate that they will be comparing prices within two years.

PriceGrabber.com will continue to track mobile Internet shopping trends and shifts in consumer behavior in the coming months.

(Source) Press