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PayPal Goes Mobile

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the pay-on-the-go dept.

Stitch_Surfs writes "PayPal has gone mobile. MobileCrunch breaks the news (with images) of PayPal's (un) surprising move onto mobile phones. According to the site, money can be sent,received and goods purchased all via PayPal from your mobile phone."

12 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Not surprising by turg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I signed up for PayPal when they first started. They started out as a service for beaming payments between Palm Pilots. You put money into your PayPal account from your credit card or bank account. Then you'd sync your Palm with your PayPal account and you could beam money (via IR) to/from other peoples' Palms. And, as a secondary feature, you could transfer money to other people's accounts on the web site too.

    Well, it turned out that the the secondary feature was the one that took off and the one that was originally the whole point eventually got dropped. So this is really just a return to their original concept from 8 years ago rather than some suprising new idea.

    --
    <sig>Guvf vf abg n frperg zrffntr
  2. Strip clubs... by poopie · · Score: 3, Funny

    Great - no need to use my ATM card at strip clubs anymore.

    Oh, wait... at least with my ATM card, I'm limited to *TWO* days maximum withdrawls for monetary damage (max out before midnight, max out after midnight).

  3. Mobile sounds well and good, but.. by MasJ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, Paypal on the go sounds pretty good, it's an alternative to putting your credit card number in over a mobile network, and sounds much safer. However, how many people here feel that this would open up an entire audience of really susceptible users to phishing scams ?

    Wouldn't it be harder to spot a phishing scam over a mobile device considering that the display on a mobile is pretty limited in screen real estate ? On good ol' 'puters you can just move your mouse over the hyperlink and make out that it's a scam.

    1. Re:Mobile sounds well and good, but.. by AuMatar · · Score: 3, Informative

      Credit cards are issued by banks and have strict federal regulation. Paypal is NOT a bank, as decided by a federal court, and is under no regulation. I'd rather use a credit card.

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    2. Re:Mobile sounds well and good, but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      "Wouldn't it be harder to spot a phishing scam over a mobile device considering that the display on a mobile is pretty limited in screen real estate ? On good ol' 'puters you can just move your mouse over the hyperlink and make out that it's a scam."

      Technically, no..
      Mobile to Mobile - shows the phone number "MIN" of the original sender
      SNPP and Email to SMS - shows the same MIN as destination. IE. it appears to be from myself

      Which basically leaves only a few options left, but this Paypal thing I presume is being done via SMPP, which means it will be assigned to a short code. Only privaleged accounts can spoof short codes, as in, you must authenticate to the SMSC server beforehand. Which usually means, firewall access + an account.

      Phishing should be much more difficult.

  4. Cool, but I'm still nervous about the firm by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Until Paypal address the issues presented by PaypalSucks and similar sites, I'm going to continue to feel disillusioned about what was once the cat's pajamas.

    But anyway, looks like O'Reilly will need to update Paypal Hacks with information on this new mobile device support. The 2004 edition is getting noticeably out-of-date.

  5. Um... by AWhiteFlame · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't recall ever having the need to pay something with credit card on my phone. If I'm there, and I have my phone, why not just..er...pay with a credit card? Its not like I'll be ebaying on an 1 1/2" screen... Am I missing something?

    --
    "Everything worth innovating today will go to court tomorrow."
    1. Re:Um... by turg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think the idea is that you can use this to pay anyone (rather than just businesses who take credit cards).

      --
      <sig>Guvf vf abg n frperg zrffntr
  6. PayPal already has a mobile (WAP) interface... by nxtw · · Score: 4, Informative

    PayPal has had a mobile interface for years, via WAP.
    http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/mob ile-outside

  7. Are you freakin' kidding me? by mrshowtime · · Score: 4, Informative

    Paypal has a hard on for "limiting" account access for just about any reason today. Does anyone see the nightmare of trying to use paypal on a mobile phone? You had might as well call paypal and ask them to suspend your account, because 10 seconds after you sign up for "paypal mobile" your paypal account will suddenly have "suspicious" activity (you actually using it)and will be limited for "your" protection. Paypal limited my account access when I was using my paypal debit card out of state (one state over) to buy GAS. It was just ONE transaction and -that- triggered their fraud flags?! Maybe if google was doing this, but paypal, forget it.

    --
    "Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
  8. TextPayMe? by MostlyHarmless · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It sounds like they're placing themselves squarely as the 800-pound-gorilla against TextPayMe -- one of the Y Combinator-funded startups. This may be interesting for both parties.

    --
    Friends don't let friends misuse the subjunctive.
  9. Direct Linkage by RickPartin · · Score: 3, Informative

    Please Slashdot link to the article and not the front page KTHX. Here is the direct link for people reading this in the future. http://mobilecrunch.com/2006/03/22/paypal-goes-mob ile/