PayPal Going Mobile
March 10th, 2006 | by amarfresh |Before the TextPayMe hype has died, PayPal seems to be making more and more noise in the mobile payments arena by agressively staffing their mobile payments team.
While PayPal has looked into mobile payments before without launching a product, the time may now be right for PayPal to get into the business. Competitive threats are looming, with Google’s recent foray into the payments business and the launch of TextPayMe, a Redmond, Wash., firm started by a couple of ex-Microsoft (Research) employees.
TextPayMe lets consumers use text messages to pay each other instantly. TextPayMe’s pitch is eerily similar to PayPal’s seven-year-old marketing plan: Encourage consumers to pay each other electronically, charge nothing for the service, and offer a sign-up bonus for referring new customers — a key to PayPal’s fast signup of millions of users. (PayPal later began charging when payments were received.)
The article ends appropriately:
Unfortunately for TextPayMe, PayPal appears to see the same opportunity.
Looks like PayPal may have this live by June.