India quickly becoming a hub for mobile commerce
Mobile commerce is on the rise in India. Online retail giant HomeShop18 is predicting a promising future for mobile commerce throughout India as more consumers get their hands on new smartphones and tablets. These consumers are becoming more comfortable with the idea of making purchases online, and mobile devices are becoming the ideal platform to do this. HomeShop18 anticipates that mobile commerce will contribute to more than 25% of all online shopping traffic by 2015.
Mobile device penetration growing rapidly
India is home to a massive population. Currently, approximately 70 million smartphone and tablet owners call India home, and many of these consumers enjoy shopping online. HomeShop18 expects that the number of mobile consumers will continue to grow well into the future. According to a recent report from the Internet and Mobile Association of India, more than 165 million people are expected to access the Internet through a mobile device by 2014.
Investors show strong support for mobile payments
Mobile commerce analysts in India suggest that several e-commerce companies in India have raised over $500 million in 2012 in order to make their mobile commerce services more robust. Moreover, e-commerce investments in 2012 grew to $14 billion, up from the $6.3 billion they were in 2011, showing that investors have a strong interest in the mobile commerce initiatives that many online businesses are adopting.
HomeShop18 may establish dominance in Indian mobile commerce
HomeShop18 currently boasts of two mobile applications that can be used for mobile commerce. The retailer has plans to bolster its mobile commerce services in order to appeal to a wider range of consumers in the future. Tapping into these consumers can often be a difficult task, but many Indian consumers have shown an aggressive enthusiasm for participating in mobile commerce and online shopping from the mobile device. If HomeShop18 can beat out the competition it has in the mobile commerce scene, it may become India’s leading mobile shopping platform in the near future.
PayPal aims to make mobile payments more iOS friendly
PayPal has high hopes for mobile commerce and the company has been working to make mobile payments easier for everyone over the past two years. The company has taken note of the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets, as well as the fact that many consumers prefer to shop using these mobile devices. In order to make mobile payments more universally available, PayPal has been working to develop alternatives to NFC technology, which has long been a cornerstone of mobile commerce.
New SDK allows iOS developers to craft mobile commerce applications
This week, PayPal has launched a new software development kit (SDK) for the iOS platform that will allow developers to create mobile payments systems for the operating system. Last year, Apple launched the iPhone 5, which had been speculated to include some form of NFC technology for the sake of mobile commerce. When the iPhone 5 was officially released, it did not actually support NFC technology, which garnered Apple a significant amount of criticism from consumers. Many claimed that the company would be unable to compete in the mobile payments arena because it had abandoned NFC technology. Apple, however, claimed that the technology was neither secure nor practical enough to facilitate mobile commerce. PayPal shares in this belief.
Developers demand ways to bring mobile commerce services to iOS consumers
The new SDK opens up a new avenue for mobile payments to come to the iOS platform without having to rely on NFC technology in any way. PayPal CTO Jame Barrese notes that the company listened to the demands of developers who wanted the ability to create mobile commerce solutions for iOS devices. Using the SDK, these developers will be able to implement PayPal’s payment system into a mobile application designed for iPhones and iPads. Consumers can use these applications to make mobile payments.
Mobile commerce expected to reach new heights this year
PayPal is quickly becoming a very powerful force in the world of mobile commerce. The company expects to see mobile sales grow to new heights this year as more consumers favor making purchases from their smartphones and tablets. Mobile payments are expected to continue growing in prominence as new services, such as PayPal’s new iOS SDK, become available to developers, who can use these services to craft effective mobile commerce applications.
