Sell On the Go with New eBay iPhone Apps

If you like to sell on ebay, or even make your living that way, now you can do it on the go. eBay has announced two new apps for iPhone. One is an app for eBay.com and the other is for the company's new website, eBayClassifieds.com. The new apps allow consumers to take a picture of and list an item in under a minute and make auction-style listings for free. eBay.com has over 90 million users worldwide and the new eBayClassified.com allows you to reach buyers in your community. The new app will also allow you to buy items on the website, using your iPhone, and it's easier than ever. This week, an app for the new Apple iPad will be available as well.

In a press release, Lorrie Norrington, the president of eBay, talked about the apps and what they'll do for eBay users, "We offer more choice in ecommerce formats for sellers and buyers than any other online shopping destination. The eBay Selling app makes it easy for sellers to bring even greater value and selection to eBay and offer more great deals for buyers. Whether selling or shopping, we’ve put the world’s largest online marketplace in the palm of your hand, and we’ve introduced a great new option for consumers who prefer to sell and buy in a trusted, family friendly local classifieds format.”

Right now, over 8 million people are using their iPhones to shop on the website and this year the company expects to generate over $1.5 billion in merchandise volume through mobile platforms, alone, doubling the amount generated in 2009.

The eBay.com app allows users to do a number of things directly from their phones. Sellers can point, shoot, and click to list an item in less than a minute (or so says the press release). Sellers can also research sales trends before listing items and view the status of items for sale. The app allows users to share their listings on Facebook and Twitter, as well as quickly link to other eBay and Paypal apps.

The eBayClassifieds.com app allows users to post free ads in under a minute. The ad can have up to eight photos from the user's photo library or that were taken fro the iPhone camera. Users can also search by keyword, location, price range, and other specifications quickly and easily, s well as view a single-age ad view with reply, share, and watch features.

The new apps are available in over 190 countries, in eight languages. Both apps are free to download. Together, with the recently released Paypal Mobile for iPhone, the apps make mobile eBay transactions easier than ever.

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More People Using Phones for Social Networking

There's no doubt that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming more and more popular, but the way people access these sites is changing. In January, over 10% of smartphone users accessed a social networking site with their phones; that's over 5% more than January 2009.

That means that during that month, one in three smartphone users accessed a social networking website with their mobile browsers. According to ComScore, a web metrics firm, Facebook saw a 112% increase in mobile web suers, while Twitter saw a whopping 347% increase. Because the numbers came from the users who access the websites through their mobile web browser, it did not include the almost six million users who mobile applications to access these websites.

Mark Donovan, the senior VP of mobile at ComScore, said in a statement, "Social networking remains one of the most popular and fastest-growing behaviors on both the PC-based Internet and the mobile Web. Social media is a natural sweet spot for mobile since mobile devices are at the center of how people communicate with their circle of friends, whether by phone, text, email, or, increasingly, accessing social networking sites via a mobile browser."

Despite the overwhelming increase in Twitter users, Facebook still reigns as the most popular social networking site. Facebook more than doubled MySpace with its 25 million mobile browser users in January. Twitter saw 4.7 million mobile web users. And not only is social networking on smartphones seeing an increase, more and more people are using smartphones to access the web in general. At the end of 2009, 17% of mobile phone users were using smartphones, vs 11% at the end of 2008.

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The Blackberry Curve 8300 Series

The NPD Group, leaders in market research of the wireless industry, say that Verizon Wireless’ BlackBerry Curve has been able to move past Apple’s iPhone with their aggressive “buy-one-get-one” promotion. The Curve Series has grown to become the best-selling smartphones in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2009. So what is so great about these phones? Well let me tell you…

Let’s start with the design. The BlackBerry Curve 8300 Series show off sleek features, clean lines, and soft, smooth edges. They are one of the smallest phones in the BlackBerry line to feature a full QWERTY keyboard. The Curve 8300 Series also have large, high-resolution screens for surfing the net, viewing pictures, playing games, or watching video clips all in bright vibrant colors.

The cameras featured on all BlackBerry Curve 8300 Series smartphones allow you the freedom to capture any moment and share it instantly with friends and family. The camera includes: digital zoom, built-in flash, and a self-portrait mirror. On most of the 8300 Series phones, you also have the option of video recording those special moments as well. You can then share them instantly or enjoy viewing them in your phone’s high resolution display. Also, all Curve smartphones come with a USB cable for easy transfer of your pictures and video from your phone to your computer.

To satisfy all your music needs, BlackBerry phones allow you to easily sync all your desktop iTunes and Windows Media Player music files right to your smartphone. To permit the storage of as many songs as you want, the Curve allows you to use a microSD card for expandable media storage.

The BlackBerry Curve 8300 Series also features GPS capabilities, e-mail, easy text messaging, voice notes, conference calling, Bluetooth capabilities, fast on-the-go internet access, and so much more. The Curve 8300 Series really has a lot to offer and with the “buy-one-get-one” deal that Verizon is running on the Curve 8330, if you’re looking for a new phone this is definitely one to consider.

A Flood of Android Phones to Emerge

Andy Rubin, senior director for Mobile Platforms for Google and head of the Android operating system, has declared that there will be at least 18 Android phones on the market by the end of this year. This means that there is soon to be a stream of Android phones, considering the fact that the only Android-centric phones on the market as of now are T-Mobile’s G1 and the HTC Magic. He says that to accomplish this goal, the phones will be released from 8 or 9 different manufacturers.

Rubin has also stated that there will be three different types of Androids. There will be the obligation-free option that allows you to download a free version of Android without Google applications and will permit the manufacturer to have access to Android applications. The second choice will have some strings attached. It will be the same as the Google-free version except for the fact that the manufacturers will sign a distribution contract that will require the phone to have Google applications on it. The last and final type will be as Google so nicely puts it, “The Google Experience.” These will feature the Google logo, all Google applications, and unhampered access to the Android market.

These phones could be next big thing. It is said that these new developments should differentiate Android from the iPhone, Palm Pre, and Blackberry. We’ll just have to see as these phones begin to emerge as the year progresses.