In spite of the more highbrow commerce activities on mobile, as with the web (and many other technologies) some sectors always drive early adoption and take up. More specifically, certain areas of the entertainment business (as Tony Soprano would say) and gambling. The latter represents a significant amount of revenue spent online, and it would seem that the same pattern is occurring in mobile. Paddy Power, the bookies, have released figures which show that 10% of their bets come from mobile. Of that, 50% is represented by the iphone. Given that the app was only launched in June, it is a very fast take up. Paddy Power’s mobile revenue is double the figure of Ocado, whose with the highly successful app generates around 5% of their sales.

It’s easy to understand why mobile gambling is taking off. For starters there’s the immediacy, the amount of information required is relatively small and finally there’s the personal, private nature of the phone. Gambling is private by it’s very nature. Not everyone publicly acknowledges their gambling.

Like it or not, gambling has driven a lot of online commercial activity, and it looks like it will do the same with mobile.