Smartphone owners are more comfortable buying from their handsets, but that poor mobile site functionality is still a turn-off for many. Research company Compete has released the results of its quarterly Smartphone Intelligence survey, which also says mobile commerce (m-commerce) is ready to explode in 2010. 

The survey provides behavioral and survey-based insight into how consumers are using their iPhones, Blackberries, Android devices, and other smartphones. 

Here are the key findings: 

• 37% of smartphone owners have purchased something non-mobile with their handset in the past 6 months.

• 19% of total smartphone owners have purchased music from their device, 14% have purchased books, DVDs, or video games and 12% have purchased movie tickets.

• 40% of Android owners and 51% of Blackberry owners would spend $500 or more to buy a product from their mobile phone, compared to 9% of iPhone owners.

• The most popular mobile shopping-related activities are still research related -- 41% of iPhone users and 43% of Android users are most likely to check sale prices at alternative locations from their mobile phones while they are shopping.

• The second most likely activity is accessing consumer reviews, with 39% of iPhone owners and 31% of Android owners investigating reviews from their handset before they purchase.

While m-commerce is poised for explosive growth in 2010, consumers are still more likely to abandon mobile purchasing on sites that are not optimized for the on-the-go experience, similar to shopping cart abandonment in the early days of e-commerce, says Compete. 

Compete's Q3 Smartphone Intelligence survey found that 8% of smartphone owners that tried to purchase a product on their device were unable to do so.  

And 45% of those that abandoned the process reported that they did so because the site would not load, and an additional 38% left the site because it was not developed specifically for smartphone users.

The survey findings were released today, Jan. 4.