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EBay head talks mobile commerce during earnings call

November 27, 2009

John Donahoe is president/CEO of eBay

During its earnings conference call Oct. 21, eBay’s CEO John J. Donahoe said that mobile commerce is one of the key areas the company is focusing on in terms of driving innovation.

The earnings call was not the first time that the CEO stressed how important the mobile channel – specifically mobile commerce – is for eBay (see story).

“Mobile commerce is another area in which we are driving innovation to deliver a better user experience,” Mr. Donahoe said. “The eBay iPhone app, which has been downloaded more than 4 million times, is expected to generate more than $500 million in gross merchandise volume this year.

“And consumers can more easily use PayPal for their purchases on the iPhone than ever before,” he said. “We are rapidly iterating in mobile and will soon be introducing the next version of our eBay iPhone app with improved functionality and features.”

The CEO said that eBay will launch a nationwide campaign Nov. 2, meant to re-engage and remind consumers of the great deals on eBay this holiday season.

Unlike previous campaigns, which were mostly focused on television and coupons, the upcoming campaign will be a multichannel effort.

Additionally, Nov. 3 in San Francisco, PayPal will take a big step forward with the official opening of its platform to third-party developers.

“For me personally, this is one of the most exciting opportunities ahead for PayPal,” Mr. Donahoe said. “We are engaging developers as a new set of customers and we expect to see a wave of payments innovations unfold.

“Developers can now use PayPal’s global platform to incorporate a fast, easy and secure payment service into a wide range of applications, including mobile payments and micropayments,” he said.

Here are some photos of the eBay Mobile and PayPal applications

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