eBay continues to make aggressive moves in the mobile commerce field
Retail giant already boasts of a formidable presence in the mobile sector, but that does not mean that the company has grown complacent. Through its PayPal subsidiary, eBay has been working to engage consumers throughout the world on the field of mobile commerce. With mobile devices becoming more common, people around the world are beginning to engage in new forms of commerce. Mobile commerce has become one of the most lucrative fields in the mobile space and has attracted the interest of retail and technology companies of all kinds.
Braintree expects to process $12 billion in payments this year
This week, eBay announced its acquisition of Braintree, a mobile commerce specialist, for $800 million. The company plans to combine Braintree with the mobile payments division of PayPal in order to bolster its growing mobile commerce infrastructure. Braintree estimates that it will process more than $12 billion in mobile payments this year and it lists Rovio, OpenTable, TaskRabbit, and Heroku among its clients.
Venmo application now available to eBay
Through the acquisition, eBay has gained access to Braintree’s Venmo application, which facilitates mobile payments from smartphones and tablets. The application is yet another platform through which eBay and PayPal can engage mobile consumers. PayPal is a strong advocate of mobile commerce platforms that are not wholly reliant on NFC technology. The company has some security concerns when it comes to NFC and is also critical of the exclusive nature of the technology. The low availability of NFC-enabled mobile devices makes it difficult for many consumers to participate in mobile commerce in any meaningful way.
Braintree expected to continue current operations alongside PayPal
Braintree is expected to continue many of its current operations. Per the acquisition, the company will exist as a separate entity within PayPal and will provide services that will fall under the Braintree name. The company is also engaged in a partnership with Facebook concerning streamlining mobile commerce through the Auto Fill with Facebook initiative.
Japan surpasses US in mobile games spending
It is no secret that mobile games have become very popular throughout the world. These games also happen to be a very lucrative sector for the worldwide game industry. People playing mobile games tend to spend money frequently in order to unlock additional content or purchase in-game items and digital currency. Spending in the mobile games sector has been on the rise over the past few years and now Japan has surpassed the U.S. in terms of spending, according to a new report from NewZoo, a game industry market research firm.
iPhone proves popular among consumers, but Google Play is gaining momentum
According to NewZoo, the iPhone is one of the most popular platforms for mobile games in Japan, followed by Android devices. Since 2007, the U.S. had been the top grossing market for the iPhone when it comes to mobile games. Now, however, Japanese consumers are collectively spending massive amounts of money on mobile games for their iOS devices and are also showing a great deal of enthusiasm for games on Android devices. NewZoo expects that spending for iPhone games in Japan will exceed $1 billion this year, but spending for Android games will surpass that milestone.
Google Play is outpacing Apple
Google Play has become very popular in Japan. While many consumers favor the iOS platform, many more are spending money on Google Play. South Korea is the only other large country where Google Play outshines the Apple App Store in terms of mobile games revenues. Germany and Spain are close behind South Korea and Japan. Google Play is gaining significant momentum among mobile consumers throughout the world, except in China, where Apple has focused the majority of its efforts in the Asian market.
China proves to be important for mobile gaming
China is considered a valuable market, especially where mobile games are concerned. Mobile gaming has become one of the most popular pastimes in the country, which has sparked strong growth in the game industry. Japan, however, remains the top market for games in general. The country is home to a wide variety of mobile games, as well as those for consoles and the PC. Spending on mobile games in Japan is expected to continue growing at a fast pace for the foreseeable future.
