Office Depot is the latest big box retailer to test PayPal’s point-of-sale that lets shoppers pay for in-store purchases by typing in their mobile phone number and a PIN.

Big box retailer Home Depot is ramping up its mobile strategy by testing a PayPal-enabled mobile payment solution at select stores.

PayPal is testing an NFC mobile payments application at two stores in Sweden while it continues to look at other ways to provide access to its payments services.

As the finish line for the 2011 holiday season comes into focus, promotional activity is heating up with big digital brands such as Amazon, Groupon and eBay trying to drive uptake of their services – which all have significant mobile components – via special offers.

Mobile deals will play an important role for PayPal next year as it continues to build a multifaceted retail technology solution to help retailers address the pain points in their businesses.

PayPal saw a 516 percent increase in global mobile payment volume on Black Friday in 2011 compared to 2010.

EBay confirmed that 2011 will be its largest mobile shopping season to date with an expected $5 billion in mobile sales, driven in part by the holidays.

The volume of payments made via PayPal from mobile devices will total more than $3.5 billion in 2011, with the company expecting a significant jump in mobile payments during the upcoming holiday shopping season.

NEW YORK – A PayPal executive at the Mobile Shopping Fall conference said that it is no longer good enough to just build a mobile site. There needs to be a simple and safe checkout that will help drive conversion and adoption.

Mobile will play a big role for eBay as it migrates to an open ecommerce ecosystem that will enable developers to create new services and apps that enhance online and mobile shopping.