BARCELONA, Spain —Feb. 27, 2012 — eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), a global leader in mobile commerce with its suite of eBay and PayPal mobile applications, today kicked off Mobile World Congress with announcements of a new partnership with major carrier Three.co.uk; strategic integrations with merchants such as Yotel and Entradas.com; and mobile app updates that evolve mobile commerce selling and shopping experiences for consumers.
The announcements underscore eBay’s commitment to leading mobile commerce innovation and building out a robust mobile commerce ecosystem with carriers, merchants and consumers worldwide. In 2011, eBay mobile commerce generated $5 billion in retail volume, and PayPal mobile generated $4 billion in payment volume. eBay’s mobile apps have been downloaded more than 70 million times. In 2012, eBay expects to do $8 billion in mobile commerce retail volume, and PayPal expects to process $7 billion in mobile payment volume.
“Mobile commerce is changing the way people shop and pay, and the ways in which merchants of all sizes engage consumers,” said John Donahoe, eBay Inc. President and CEO. “We’re seeing a new retail paradigm emerge through mobile. Consumers are in control, and they want to shop anytime, anywhere. That creates opportunity. eBay is driving mobile commerce innovation, partnering with carriers and merchants to build a new retail ecosystem that drives growth by delivering anytime, anywhere value and rich multichannel shopping experiences for consumers.”
eBay and PayPal Partner with Carriers to Drive Mobile Commerce
eBay and Three.co.uk have partnered to deliver mobile devices pre-loaded with eBay apps, bringing the mobile shopping experience directly to consumers. With this deal, Android smartphones on the UK's fastest growing network will now come with eBay's mobile app directly on the device. The move will mean Three and eBay's customers can enjoy a quick, easy and direct shopping experience.
PayPal launched today the PayPal Carrier Payment Network, to make mobile carrier payments more viable for a wider number of online merchants. PayPal will work with its 250+ carriers and 1,500+ digital goods merchants to expand the carrier payment experience and create a win-win situation for carriers, merchants and consumers. The initiative will require that carriers revise standards to help optimize user experience, increase flexibility of carrier payments as a payment method, and increase payout rates for merchants, allowing carrier payments to address the entire digital goods industry, which is expected to grow to $220 billion by 2014 according to Juniper Research.
Merchants Rush to Adopt PayPal Services to Expand Mobile Commerce
PayPal teamed up with Spain’s leading ticketing company, Entradas.com, to allow consumers to save time and skip the line by buying tickets with a mobile phone and PayPal. Since integrating PayPal into its app a few weeks ago, Entradas.com has already seen more than 15 percent of customers purchase tickets using PayPal.
PayPal has collaborated with Yotel to allow consumers to soon book a room at Yotel’s flagship hotel in New York, or one of their stylish cabins at London Heathrow & Gatwick and Amsterdam Schiphol airports, with PayPal on your smartphone. Travelers can book on any smartphone using the browser – there’s no need to download an app, simply visit the Yotel website on a mobile device and follow the instructions to book a room in under 60 seconds.
eBay Delivers Solutions for Consumers
In addition to enabling commerce for merchants and carriers, eBay’s mobile apps connect consumers to a global network of sellers. eBay mobile helps consumers find the products they want in the palm of their hands, anytime and anywhere inspiration strikes. For individual buyers and sellers, eBay continues to drive exchange with a portfolio of apps, including eBay Core, RedLaser 3.0, eBay for iPad and Image Swatch that facilitate global exchange through seamless search, comparison, bid and pay functionality.
With the version 2.5.0 update to the eBay Core app for iPhone, eBay now delivers the ability to calculate shipping, research pricing trends and make sales from virtually anywhere, as well as offering improved image quality, push notifications on bids and Twitter integration.