PayPal Mobile

A number of reviews for the PayPal mobile option.

MobHappy:

"There are two parts to the service: the mobile extension of its standard person-to-person payments, which can be initiated via SMS or an IVR call, and PayPal then calls back with an IVR prompt asking for a PIN number to confirm the transaction before notifying the recipient. The other is called “Text to Buy”, and as advertised, it lets users buy stuff via a text message. It works in the same way: users SMS an item code to PayPal, which then calls back to confirm, then the item is shipped to a user’s home address.

What’s holding back mobile payments currently, for the most part, is that operator revenue share. But that’s not a technical issue or even a societal one, just a flawed business model. PayPal’s real impact in mobile, rather than its actual product, may be to force that onerous revenue share down to more acceptable levels. But any mobile payment system can’t ignore mobile content, and that’s where the biggest opportunity is. But it’s also the one place where a system will butt heads with operators — so you have to wonder if PayPal’s avoided it intentionally."

Tech Crunch:

"This spells trouble for existing mobile payment provider TextPayMe. PayPal’s solution is fully baked, easy to use, and has some great features that take this beyond a way to text your friends money.

Russell Beattie:

"This is pretty huge. There’s a ton online already - go to PayPal, sign in, add a new phone to your profile and mark it as mobile. The site will offer you the chance to confirm the phone so you can use it to make payments, then you enter a pin number, and an IVR system will call your phone and prompt you to type in the PIN, then you can send money. There’s a a whole new section of PayPal for mobile online now, flash demos are still pending."

From MocoNews:

Our collection of stories of Paypal’s mobile efforts in the last two years:

• Paypal Launches Mobile Payment and Buying Otions
• PayPal Going Mobile — But Where?
• PayPal Seeks Mobile Recruits
• Bango Signs Paypal Deal
• More on PayPal Mobile
• Paypal To Move Into Mobile Payments
• TextPayMe — What It Sounds Like