[SXSW] Yesterday at SXSW, Paypal launched its new version of the Send Money application for the iPhone. Paypal allows users to send money securely to others around the world (190 countries, 24 currencies), without the hassle of bank wire transfers procedures.
Paypal launched its first mobile version for the mobile web in 2006, Paypal for iPhone was launched with the Apple app store in July 2008 and today the new feature of the iPhone app include Bump money transfers, Split Check and Collect Money. (see video)
With The Bump feature, two people can put their iPhone together and transfer money between their Paypal accounts. The Split Check makes splitting restaurant check for up to 20 people super easy, it calculates the cost per person quickly and lets reimburse each other for the cost of a meal via Paypal. Collect Money allows users to request money from multiple people for a joint gift. I met with Francesco Rovetta, director, Business Development at Paypal and he showed me a quick demo of the new features, check out the video. The same features will be implemented for BlackBerry and Android.
Paypal shared some interesting statistics: in 2009 smartphone sales are over 172.4 million units and consumers worldwide are expected to spend $119 billion** by 2015 through their mobile phones. Paypal strategy to focus on improving the user experience on the mobile makes a lot of sense, and we can guess that the future of m-commerce is bright.
* According to a Gartner Inc. study published in February 2010 titled “Competitive Landscape: Mobile Devices, Worldwide, 4Q09 and 2009.” ** According to a study published by ABI Research study in February 2010 titled “Mobile Commerce”