You may have received this news from me.

Mobile auctions are still a small market in Japan, but consider this reality today: 3G mobile networks capable of supporting streaming video, 2-3 megapixel camera phones, fixed-rate monthly data plans, and the "always-on"-ness of mobile.

One can easily imagine that a mobile auction user in Japan or S. Korea could use their high-quality camera phone to upload a photo of an auction item and use their phone to monitor the auction. In fact, in Asia, more people access the Internet via their mobile phones than PCs.

Right now in Japan, the KDDI AU network has JVed with Bidders.jp for a mobile auction, but frankly it's lame- far too few auction items for sale and therefore a non-functional market. Yahoo! Japan Auctions is the 80,000 lb. Gozilla of auctions in Japan. Whether mobile auctions will take off beyond what bidders.jp has done to date is unknown, but I believe the platform (network/handset) is capable of supporting it.

eBay ought to keep an eye on this as mobile auctions could end up being bigger than traditional computer-based auctions in a few years. Japan and S. Korea, who lead the world in 3G networks, is the place to watch this trend unfold.

Hi Gen, thanks for the tip and the background info.

eBay's wireless options are definitely not ideal. The WAP version reminds me of why I hate WAP. And the premium service costs $3.99 per month? Hmmm...
http://pages.ebay.com/wireless/