Paypal sets sights on Asia's appetite for mobile shopping

US online payment company PayPal is looking to the Asia-Pacific region for growth in mobile commerce as more consumers embrace wireless shopping, company officials said yesterday.

Figures from industry monitor Informa Research indicate that Asia-Pacific mobile commerce buying products via a handheld device is expected to balloon to $139 billion in 2012 from $24 billion last year.

"This market is just exploding like crazy. This is the engine of growth," Rahul Shinghal, PayPal's regional head for mobile products, told AFP in an interview.

Much of it is still in Japan and South Korea, Asia's most electronically connected markets, but PayPal expects wider acceptance of mobile commerce.

PayPal, owned by online auction powerhouse eBay, announced yesterday it had signed an agreement with Singapore to spur mobile commerce in the affluent city-state.

The deal with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore aims to make it easier for businesses and consumers to conduct transactions and make payments over mobile phones.

In May, PayPal entered into a collaboration with Malaysia's top mobile operator Maxis that allows subscribers to engage in secure shopping transactions.

"This is where we expect a lot of growth to come," Shinghal said of the region's prospects. "Mobile is largely becoming the primary access for the Internet in the Asia Pacific."

Markets like Australia, Singapore and Malaysia are seeing a huge jump in mobile commerce thanks to the growing popularity of smartphones featuring multimedia capabilities, including speedy Internet access.

In Singapore, for example, eight out of every 10 mobile phones sold is a smartphone.

"Because of the high penetration of smartphones and because mobile internet has become faster, we see a lot of our users and merchants are trying to tap this channel," said Shinghal.

Mobile commerce has also caught on because of the convenience it brings to shoppers, who can complete their transactions instantly.

"It's convenient because if you are sitting in your living room and you just want to buy movie tickets, you don't want to open your laptop and wait for it to boot up," said Shinghal.

PayPal's transactions from mobile commerce globally reached $141 million last year and the figure is projected to hit $500 million by the end of 2010.

The California-based company's payment volume in 2009 rose 19 per cent to $71 billion, which constitutes almost 15 per cent of global e-commerce.