PayPal doubles m-payment target for 2012 to USD 7 bln

Ebay CEO John Donahoe announced at CES that PayPal expects USD 7 billion in mobile payment volume in 2012, double the previous forecast. PayPal exceeded expectations for 2011, reaching USD 4 billion in mobile payment volume. This is a huge increase from the original 2011 prediction of USD 1.5 billion and the USD 750 million in mobile payments in 2010. Fuelling this growth is a combination of the success of PayPal's mobile-optimised checkout flows, and the rapid increase in consumer adoption of mobile shopping. PayPal currently has more than 17 million PayPal customers regularly making a purchase through their mobile phone, up from the 8 million it reported in June. Tablets continue to play a major role in this adoption. According to recent IBM Benchmark data, 75 percent of shoppers made purchases on their tablets this holiday season, with the iPad driving the bulk of these transactions. PayPal saw more retailers embrace mobile commerce in 2011. Companies such as Starbucks, Pizza Express, Yorder and Fandango have collaborated with PayPal to provide various mobile payment services.