Recent trends tracked by Forrester Research and Bizrate Insights show that smartphones may not be the driving force behind mobile commerce that many predicted. Instead, consumers seem to be gravitating more quickly toward tablets, which already account for 20 percent of mobile commerce sales despite the fact that only 9 percent of shoppers own one. What’s the big appeal? New tablet apps such as TheFind’s Catalogue and Google Catalogs for the iPad. Tablets allow mobile consumers to view products on larger screens, giving retailers greater flexibility to display their inventories, pricing information, customer reviews, etc. Many retailer catalogs can be viewed in rich media through these apps, which also give users the ability to customize a list of favorite products and magazines. Be sure to read this month’s E-Commerce Express column on page 22 to learn more about online retail in the new tablet era.