Mobile Commerce News

Category: Featured News

PayPal expanding availability of mobile wallet

JT | January 16, 2013

PayPal announces retail expansion of its mobile wallet service

PayPal has announced that it is expanding its mobile wallet service to five new U.S. retail partners. This will increase the number of stores that accept mobile payments using the PayPal mobile wallet to 18,000 nationwide. PayPal has shown an intense interest in mobile commerce over the past year, hoping to engage a new generation of consumers that prefer to make purchases using their mobile device rather than traditional forms of payment. PayPal is one of the few companies that is ideally suited for the emerging mobile commerce arena because of its longstanding focus on digital commerce.

Company signs new deals with several retailers

PayPal has signed new agreements with RadioShack, Dollar General, Famous Footwear, Mapco Express, and Spartan Stores, as well as two other retailers that have not yet been identified. These stores will feature support for PayPal’s mobile commerce processing technology, which will allow consumers to purchase products using their smart phone with funds that are associated with their PayPal account.

Mobile wallet from PayPal avoids NFC technology

PayPal launched its mobile wallet in early 2012 to a limited market. The company has been testing the mobile commerce waters ever since, making modest advances in its hold on the market and showing caution in terms of consumer security. Notably, PayPal’s mobile wallet does not support NFC technology, which has become a common foundation for the mobile commerce sector. This is because PayPal was unconvinced of the security features that were associated with the technology, opting instead to institute its own technology and software to ensure the protection of its customers.

Success of mobile wallet may put PayPal on par with Google and Isis

The company has been championing its alternative to NFC technology for several months, suggesting that it provides consumers with a more secure way to participate in mobile commerce. By expanding its retail partnerships, PayPal is looking to make its wallet more available to a wider audience. If the company’s service continues to provide successful, PayPal may soon emerge as a major competitor with others in the mobile commerce sector, such as Google and Isis.

Blinkbox reports major increase in mobile sales

JT | January 16, 2013

Blinkbox sees business from mobile platforms spike

Blinkbox, a video-on-demand service based in the United Kingdom, has reported that its sales through mobile devices from November to December 2012 jumped 180%. The service is very similar to that of Netflix, but more accommodating to mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets. In the United Kingdom, Blinkbox has become a very popular service for mobile consumers, many of whom use the service to watch videos while they are traveling or away from home for any extended period of time.

Tablets and game consoles lead to surge in sales

Blinkbox notes that the surge in mobile sales it has seen recently come from a mix of devices, including smart phones, tablets, and game consoles. While the company attributes a significant amount of success to its appeal to smart phone owners, Blinkbox notes that its recent surge is largely due to the rising availability of tablets and game consoles.

Blinkbox able to beat out competitors

During the 2012 holiday season, Blinkbox saw a major influx of new customers. This is likely due to the fact that many people got tablets and new gaming consoles during this time of year as presents. Blinkbox had also instituted several innovative incentives to help attract new users, many of which were greatly successful. The company notes that was able to beat out competitors because it offered access to many of the most recent movies to be released, whereas Netflix users would have to wait months before gaining access to these titles.

Initiatives prove successful for Blinkbox

Last year, Blinkbox launched the Movie Mondays initiative, which gives users a chance to purchase on-demand videos at a significantly lower rate than usual. Blinkbox has recently announced its partnership with Papa John’s Pizza, which will be providing a large pizza at the same rate as Movie Monday videos. This is another incentive designed to attract new customers, as well as retain those that Blinkbox has already managed to capture.