January 23rd, 2012
Skyrocketing Mobile Payments: Visa, PayPal, eBay
Mobile payments have skyrocketed over the past few years and 2 recent announcements were particularly noteworthy to show us the future direction of mobile payments, and who will be competing for market leadership. 
PayPal, Visa, et al.
PayPal, one of the pioneers in the mobile payments game, has seen their mobile payments explode from under $1 million in 2006 to $4 billion in 2011.
This 4000% increase surprised even PayPal, who revised their estimates dramatically upwards 3 times in 2011 alone. They predict $7 billion in mobile transactions in 2012.
The shift is so dramatic that Visa Europe is predicting that half of all its payments will be mobile by 2020, while Juniper research group predicts that by 2015, mobile payments will make up $670 billion.
Why is this happening now?
We believe it’s for a few key reasons:
- technological advances (mobile internet, affordable smartphones)
- rollout of retailer partnerships
- consumer acceptance of mobile wallet systems
Seeing this shift in consumer acceptance, MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover joined together to form Isis, a mobile payment network that will allow you pay using NFC chips embedded in phones.
E-commerce Moving to Mobile Commerce
Here at Mobify, we’re definitely seeing the results in this consumer shift to buying on mobile.
Over the last year, our client’s mobile revenue has ramped up considerably, with one even taking in more money via mobile and tablet sites than via desktop during the busy holiday season.*
The expectation that everything you see on your screen can be purchased with a click is shifting to from desktop to mobile. Retailers who still don’t have a mobile-optimized site are putting themselves at a severe disadvantage, especially when consumers expect easy and fast access to information, no matter what device they are using.
The shift to mobile commerce is due to:
- confidence (people are more comfortable making purchases online - even large ones)
- people adopting the mobile lifestyle
