Paypal Undergoes Explosive Growth In Mobile; Earnings Jump from $750m to $4bn In One Year

Mobile commerce is growing at an rapid pace and with 2012 being touted as the year that we’ll see an explosion in the way consumers use their smartphones, it seems to be the case. But the revolution may have begun much sooner than anticipated with online payment company PayPal obtaining record profits in this area alone.

VentureBeat have reported that the company has accumulated almost $4 billion worth of mobile payments in 2011, a massive jump from $750 million in 2010. To put this growth into further perspective, PayPal only obtained $141 million in mobile payments back in 2009.

PayPal mobile vice president David Marcus told VentureBeat that the company had originally expected to earn $1.5 billion from mobile payments, an optimistic target but one that they cleared by a considerable distance. He attributed the success to an overall increase in mobile commerce, more useful mobile payment apps which combine online and offline capabilities, and the increase in iPad based e-commerce.

PayPal have been looking towards mobile commerce for quite a while now, to the point that they had even envisioned how the future of mobile commerce would shape up. Recently they announced a partnership with Home Depot, who will let consumers pay via PayPal at the checkout. The company piloted the scheme in December where users could pay through a PayPal issued credit card or by entering their mobile phone number into the point of sale device at the register.

More pilots are expected to take place in the coming months and it shows just how much PayPal have factored mobile commerce into their future strategy. While success in this area has come much quicker than anticipated, it’s safe to expect that they won’t be the only ones who will benefit from such a development.