Disqus
After the launch we’ve heard Eric Duprat, who is General Manager of Mobile at PayPal, and who addressed some key questions such as:
- What are challenges that providers in developed markets have?
- What is holding back adoption?
- Where will the market be in 12-18 months?
First he introduced PayPal, sharing some very interesting numbers:
- 148 million accounts of which 70+ million are active
- $60 billion volume in 2008 (45% international)
- PayPal holds 10% of global online commerce
- 190 markets and 19 currencies
- Co-operating with 15,000+ banks
- 6000+ employees worldwide
He went on saying that the majority of mobile commerce at the moment comes from mobile content. For the future, he predicted that we’ll see a switch from remote payments to proximity payments, when mobile phones will ultimately replace credit cards.
Other notes from his presentation:
- When they initially launched PayPal Mobile, the problem was that users needed to remember SMS tags to use the service. It was complicated.
- Now they have dedicated iPhone and Android applications, and they also plan to launch for other smartphone platforms.
- Users love PayPal iPhone app, and PayPal along with its parent company, eBay, plan to release a dedicated eBay iPhone application that will allow payments from the application using PayPal.
- Finally, he said that PayPal will open its payment platform to third parties to “unleash mCommerce and eCommerce” in November. The platform will be available for PCs, mobile phones, as well as other devices such as set top boxes and connected/net TVs.
My impression was that PayPal is onto something. They already have a huge user base and if they make smart moves, form strategic partnerships – they could “extend their dominant role” from the web to mobiles. The only “problem” is that they’ll end up competing with other smart companies such as Obopay. We’ll certainly watch this space…
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
