PayPal has revealed that over the last three years, the growth in the use of this technology has exploded.

According to the latest Secure Insight report from PayPal, smartphones are becoming an extremely important part of the overall shopping experience, as mobile payments are being greatly embraced by Australians.

This has reached the extent that in three years, they have grown by a factor of 5000 percent.

PayPal explained that this mobile payments growth rose from a base of $37 million. Beyond Australia, the wider online retail market experienced an 11 percent growth to bring its own figure to $36.8 billion. When compared to retail transactions, overall, this is significant, as the total figure had been estimated at only 2 to 3 percent.

This demonstrates that mobile payments are rising far more quickly than transactions as a whole.

Jeff Clementz, the managing director for PayPal Australia, has explained that the last three years that the company has experienced in retail in the country had been focused on expanding e-commerce. However, he has said that the next phase is now underway and it will concentrate on solutions for the point of sale.

He explained that “Technology development has driven deep structural change in Australian retail.” Clementz also went on to add that “Where once there were few retailers that could truly be called omni-channel, today there are many connecting with consumers in-store, online and on the go.”

The focus that PayPal has now taken is to change the way that the cash register experience works for both retailers and consumers. This aligns with its recent announcement of its PayPal Beacon mobile payments service. Within it, consumers are provided with a hands-free experience. It allows customers to head into a brick and mortar shop, choose their products, and then pay for them at the checkout counter without ever taking their wallets or their devices out of their pockets or purses.

The hope is that these mobile payments will provide a much faster, smoother, and more convenient transaction to enhance shopping, overall, and simplify the purchasing experience to a point that has never before been achieved.

Mobile games continue to show impressive growth

Mobile games are beginning to play a larger role in the lives of people around the world. Mobile analytics firm Distimo and mobile commerce firm MEF have released a new report concerning the trends that have emerged worldwide concerning the use of mobile application. The report shows that mobile games have come to represent a significant percentage of all application downloads. These games also make up the majority of the revenue that the applications sector is responsible for.

Games account for majority of app revenue

According to the report, mobile games represent 31% of all application downloads around the world. While this may seem like a small share of the given market, these games also represent 71% of the total revenue of Apple’s App Store and 89% of the revenue of Google Play. Many mobile games are free to play, but include in-game purchases that allow users to spend money to unlock additional content. Much of the revenue that these games produce come from these purchases.

Freemium model proves lucrative for developers and publishers

Approximately 7% of the revenue that mobile games are responsible for comes from actually purchasing a game. The so called “freemium” model, whereby games can be acquired for free but additional features must be purchased through small transactions, is the most lucrative model for mobile developers currently. Mobile games have come to represent one of the most lucrative sectors for the game industry as a whole and a growing number of prominent developers and publishers are beginning to take the mobile space more seriously as a result.

Mobile games likely to continue gaining momentum around the world

Mobile games are expected to continue seeing strong growth throughout the world, especially as these games begin making their way to emerging markets in Africa and Asia. China is currently home to one of the most robust mobile gaming markets in the world, with thousands of games being produced on a daily basis throughout the country.