The Haitian earthquake relief effort is a demonstration of how mobile commerce is shaping up to be a huge star in 2010. While the devastation in Haiti is not something to celebrate, the ability of the American Red Cross to raise seven million dollars via text messaging is.

CIO.com reports that more than 700,000 wireless customers used their mobile phones to donate to the American Red Cross from almost every available network. The simplicity of using short messaging service (SMS) to conduct transactions is what made this donation model so successful. This outpouring of support for Haiti conducted via mobile devices is an indication of a comfort level and readiness for mobile commerce.

While text payments are influencing mobile commerce in a huge way, Gartner is predicting that mobile apps are the driving force behind mobile commerce success. CIO.com reports:

[According to Gartner], mobile app revenue will hit $6.7 billion this year, up from $4.2 billion last year, and the trend will continue to almost $30 billion in 2013.

CIO.com provides some great examples of mobile commerce in action.

Last year, eBay's iPhone app was used to sell a Lamborghini and a $150,000 boat. If transactions that large are already taking place via mobile apps, then opportunities for more "everyday transactions" are boundless.

In Austria people use their phones to pay car parking fees from anywhere. They even get a text alert 10 minutes before their meter is about to expire - with the option to extend parking minutes. This is fantastic customer-centric mobile commerce in that people don't have to interrupt dinner at a restaurant or their shopping excursion to run out and top up their parking meters.

For developing countries, mobile commerce offers the ability for migrant workers to quickly and easily send funds home to family with just a text message. This is a lot easier and a lot less expensive then doing an international money transfer.

Mobile wallet services like Zoompass by Enstream are putting the power of customer-centric mobile commerce in the hands of users. MobileSyrup.com interviewed Enstream president Robin Dua about the features and capabilities of the service. In the video interview Dua shows how the service works on a Blackberry and states the ultimate goal is to provide point of sale transactions.

Mobile commerce is all about convenience. After all, people almost always have their mobile phones with them. The seven million dollars sent to the American Red Cross via text donations offered people a simple and immediate way to support Haitian earthquake relief. It will be exciting to see other examples of customer-centric mobile commerce in the year ahead.