Although PayPal already offers some limited functions for mobile users, it is working on a new payment service for cellphones to be launched later this year. The idea is for participating e-commerce sites to work with PayPal in developing a version of their website for cellphones with a PayPal payment option built in. A leaked screenshot (see below) shows how it might work/look using Papa John’s Pizza as an example. So you could easily order your pizza using your cellphone without talking to anyone. Cool idea, but will it take off?
Well, PayPal hopes so even if it’s only used by the early adopter crowd at first. The target market is users who already use the Internet on their cellphones actively. Amanda Pires, spokeswoman for PayPal, had the following to say, “It’s all designed specifically for the Web… It’s easier to read, it’s more secure, and it’s designed for the mobile Web environment.”
You’d first enter your PayPal user name and password as you would when accessing PayPal via a regular computer. But then you’ll be able to create a pin so that transactions are quick and easy. It definitely beats trying to use your phone to fill out some sort of web form with your address and credit card number.
I personally haven’t had much luck with the whole Internet-usage-on-a-phone option. It’s still in the clunky stage for me even if improving. But as I am a PayPal user anyway, I’ll definitely have to see where its new mobile service falls in terms of functionality. Thanks to De Gardener for the screenshot.
