http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-ipad-mobile-retail-sales-2011-12

According to a study by RichRelevance, a retail marketing firm that specializes in online transactions, iPad and iPhone shoppers account for 90% of all mobile-based purchases.  Furthermore, iPad and iPhone users spend 19% more per order than Android users.

I have not read the study in detail.  However, I will be the first to admit that I am impressed.  Given the growth of the smartphone and tablet market, I will say that the mobile commerce sector will grow.  As for Apple, the company must be ecstatic.

What these particular press releases have not articulated are the demographics of the iPad and iPhone user.  This is important to understanding how the mobile commerce sector will grow.

I think the information points made are relevant in the light of the consumer marketplace.  There are three types of retail consumers:

• Brick-n-mortar
• Landline online
• Wireless online

I am just guessing now but more than likely these groups are largely segregated by age, profession, blah, blah, blah, etc.  In other words, demographics.

Let us be perfectly blunt the majority of older folks like to shop in a physical store front.  Then again, a lot of teens love shopping over their cell phone.  If you take a look at the extreme ends of the age bracket you will see differences in spending habits.  That is demographic analysis 101.

What is interesting about the data points in the press release is that it shows a definite shift in mobile commerce.  When I first wrote my book on mobile commerce, about `12 years ago, the M-Commerce market was brand new.  I had stated the market was growing but I had also stated that there were definite issues regarding online purchasing.  Among those issues being the need for a customer to scream bloody murder at a salesperson when things go wrong.  However, I did recognize the benefits of the Internet.  Frankly, I do not think anything I said in the book was incorrect and even still applies today.  FYI – I got blasted by Internet entrepreneurs of the time.  The book was entitled “M-Commerce Crash Course”.  My plug for a book no longer in circulation.

Online purchasing will continue to grow.  However, store-fronts will never disappear.  In the late 1990s, there were Internet moguls claiming the end of the brick-n-mortar store stating that we will be seeing empty stores lining the streets all across America.  I bet you those bankrupt Internet moguls realize just how important commercial real estate is nowadays.  Think current Great Recession and the real estate market.

I have always been a critic of Apple, I have never been a fan of worshipping equipment vendors.  However, I will give Apple credit for being the best technology marketing company on the planet.  A few years ago I had stated that I believed Apple’s true agenda was to sell content, manage content, and distribute content.  I got hammered by Apple investors and lovers.  However, I do not see where I have been wrong.  The iPhone and iPad have been a means for Apple to insert itself into the value chain of commerce.  Apple gets a chunk of change for many of the transactions that take place, especially through apps, music, and video.  In fact the company has made billions off of downloads.  In other words; BRILLIANT MARKETING and SALES Work.

In October 2011, the company reported 4th Quarter results.  For the 2011 fiscal year, Apple reported revenue of $108.25 billion and net profit of $25.92 billion, or $27.68 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $65.23 billion and a net profit of $14.01 billion, or $15.15 per diluted share, in fiscal 2010.

Apple’s stats are impressive.  Thanks to the company’s focus on content, as opposed to devices, the mobile commerce business has taken off.  Yes, I know people will say that Apple is a device company, I disagree.  Steve Jobs made a device to enable the content business.  Think of all of the things Jobs did in the content area (e.g., Pixar) and you might see what I see: he made all of those devices to facilitate his vision of content.

Without content what is the point of a smartphone?

The mobile commerce marketplace is now at an interesting inflection point.  The business use to be just about voice.  By the way I still think voice is the baseline service for wireless.  The business then transitioned into wireless email, then into music downloads, then video downloads, then streaming, then online transactions.  Now what is left?  The answer is: wireless will be entering that phase where companies are seeking to ways in which wireless can replace and supplement their existing business processes.  The mobile marketplace is now at a point where the industry is actively looking at ways for wireless to improve the way existing activities are performed.  Wireless has embedded itself in our lives.  It used to be we had to think of things for wireless to do just to make sure wireless technology would gain market traction.  That has all changed. I believe the wireless industry can thank Apple and Steve Jobs for promoting/pushing an environment that industry folks like myself had only dreamed of.