The uptake of smartphones by consumers will act as an important trigger for mobile payments services in developed countries, claims PayPal. Whereas SMS and WAP were initially promoted as suitable platforms for financial transactions, Eric Deprat, general manager for mobile at PayPal, now believes the large-screen capabilities of the latest smartphones will boost the widespread use of mobile transactions. “We have observed significant growth in the use of the mobile PayPal service since we launched our iPhone application,” said Deprat. “We expect this usage to climb further when we unveil the PayPal app for the Android platform and other smartphones.”

According to PayPal, mobile users in developed countries are much more inclined to use mobile banking services if there is a sophisticated user interface that provides a quick, easy and satisfying experience. “The number of downloads from the iPhone app store of the PayPal app has been a huge success,” claims Deprat. “We’ve been impressed with the response and very pleased with the result.”