CityzenCar, a peer-to-peer car sharing social network in France, is using SMS to secure and simplify car rental for consumers. CityzenCar enables 12,000 members across 2,000 French cities to rent a vehicle in complete trust and with no commission

The idea of the ‘Digital High Street’ has come a step closer with leading retailers Everything Everywhere, Asda and Tescos joining the growing list of retailers signing up to appear on search and discovery app NearMe – adding potentially more than 30million customers to the service that already has an organically grown user base of 500,000

As mobile commerce continues to grow at a phenomenal rate – thanks it part to public wifi access – new research from web hosting experts UK2 and YouGov has revealed that more than half of the UK’s public wifi users are potentially putting confidential data at risk by connecting mobile devices to unsecured networks

Leading High Street retailer Topshop has created a fully transactional, multichannel iPhone app that brings the entire Topshop product catalogue to customers and actively engages with them in-store, at home and online

Multi-channel mobile engagement and commerce company Digby has launched Localpoint, a mobile platform that enables location-based marketing, analytics and commerce for top brands to attract, influence, understand and own the relationship with their loyal customers across all channels

Tablet use over Christmas Day and Boxing Day in 2011 doubled compared with 2010, as 8% of consumers now use these devices as their main means of getting online, according to the annual Christmas activity survey from eDigitalResearch and IMRG

MEF, the global community for mobile content and commerce, kicks off 2012 by unveiling it’s predictions for the year ahead. In 2011, MEF accurately forecast that the proliferation of Smartphones would drive mobile consumer engagement with a number of other predictions also coming to fruition. So let’s see how it does with 2012s crystal balling…

To meet the growing demand fro mobile commerce, UK ecommerce vendor Actinic is ensuring its site owners can cash in with the launch of the Mobile Store: a mobile-optimised version of its hosted ecommerce solution, Actinic Online

The consumer tablet market hit a global high of 15.5 million units shipped in Q3 2011 climbing from 4.5 million in Q3 2010, according to the latest Tablet Tracking report from Futuresource Consulting

A new report from Juniper Research has found that the global redemption rate of mobile coupons will average at over 8% by 2016, an eightfold increase over the best paper coupons campaigns. North American and Western European markets are now beginning to follow the same growth path as the Far East & China and by 2016 there will be over 600m regular mobile coupon users worldwide

Procter & Gamble in the US is set to revolutionise mobile couponing by making electronic coupons presented on a phone or other mobile device scannable, so shoppers need only their phones/handhelds, not a stack of coupons, at check out

Contactless mobile experiences took a step closer in 2011. According to a new report by IMS Research, a leading independent supplier of market research and consultancy to the global electronics industry the number of Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled phones shipped in 2011 totaled 35 million globally – and it’ll be nearer 80million by end of 2012

Shoe retailer, Clarks, has launched a fully transactional mobile commerce site, that boasts the full Clarks product range, enabling shoppers to shop directly from their mobile or locate their nearest store and delivers a seamless ‘check out’ process

British style visionary Henry Holland has become the first fashion designer to bring a magazine cover to virtual life by releasing his own augmented reality app, powered by Aurasma. Subscribers of fashion magazine, InStyle UK, can download the free app and see his Spring/Summer 2012 collection come to life

Billabong, the international lifestyle and action sports brand, and Augmented reality app Zappar, have formed a partnership that will bring Billabong’s in store, online and print global advertising campaign to life, simply by looking at them through an iPhone or Android device

Now That’s What I Call Music! the UK’s biggest selling compilation series ever, has added mobile augmented reality to the latest NOW That’s What I Call Music 80 compilation that pops up a 3D menu that music fans can access using a mobile app simply by pointing their mobile at any NOW 80 logo – whether its on a CD cover, a poster, in-store, an ad, a computer screen or even a printout

Department store John Lewis is working in partnership with O2 as part of the network operator’s London-based trial of superfast next generation 4G mobile broadband services. The move comes just days after eBay lobbied government to look at using m-commerce services to help claw its way out of recession in a manifesto presented to downing street

Starbucks Cup Magic launches for iPhone and Android devices in the US next week and allows users to point their iPhone at specially designed Christmas cups and see all sorts of fancy dancing things and enter competition

A recent UK survey of 2000 mobile phone users commissioned by Opinion Matters on behalf of Gemalto, a digital security company, found that only 32% of consumers know what NFC stands for, and a large number expressed security concerns about using a mobile wallet

Silly-hatted, funk-lite pop midget Jamiroquai is to use NFC technology to provide fans with exclusive mobile content and to enter competitions when they come to see him in action in a selection of European venues on his latest tour