E-commerce giant PayPal has taken offense to Google’s mobile wallet initiative, claiming that the idea infringes upon a concept that PayPal had already been developing. PayPal has long been the dominate force on the Internet when it comes to e-commerce. Now, however, its position is being threatened by a wave of companies seeking to make use of NFC technology to stake their claim in the emerging marketing of mobile commerce.
Many of these newcomers are already established in the world of technology, such as Google, and mobility, such as Verizon. The question is whether or not they will be able to compete with the massive Internet payment service that is PayPal.
PayPal accounts for 8 million mobile users, which makes it the largest online financial services company in the world. The company has noticed that, as its mobile clientele grows, more people are making payments via their mobile device. At the beginning of the year, the company had expected to reach $1.5 billion in mobile transactions processed through the service by the end of the year. Now, those estimates have swollen to $3 billion.
The rise in popularity of mobile payments has PayPal on edge. Until very recently, PayPal had been the only viable option for those wishing to take part in mobile commerce. NFC technology is making it possible for others to enter the field. Google is considered to be a threat with its version of the mobile wallet, but PayPal is particularly wary of Isis, an AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile joint-venture mobile payment platform that uses NFC technology to its full potential.
By 2014, when these products become available, the mobile commerce landscape is expected to look radically different than it does today. Who will come to domineer that landscape will be decided in the next few years by consumers.
