PayPal’s Hill Ferguson speaks at Mobile World Congress 2013.

In a Thursday panel about mobile payments at Mobile World Congress, PayPal Vice President of Global Product Hill Ferguson noted that while it was “easy to create a wallet, it’s hard to get consumers to use it.”

The act of using a digital wallet is still far from mainstream. Many consumers are still confused as to what a digital wallet actually does, while others are concerned about privacy and security breaches.

Therefore to get more consumers on board with the notion of using mobile payments, Ferguson said, companies need to give their customers added benefits.

“We have to give consumers a unique value they can’t get from a swipe [from a credit card],” said Ferguson. Right now, he noted, consumers used PayPal and solutions like PayPal Here because they was safe – payers don’t have to share their personal information with merchants. The features also saved consumers time.

However, if all payments companies are doing as an industry are replacing swipes with finger taps, “that’s not enough,” he said. “We have to give them unique value that they can’t get from a swipe. We need to challenge ourselves to think bigger.”

Half a dozen retail-oriented corporations and entrepreneurs gave presentations about how their products are shaping – or hope to shape – the mobile retail landscape. The demonstrations came from the likes of AT&T Alerts, a location-based offers program where text messages are sent to participating subscribers when they are near participating retailer or advertising programs, to a new augmented reality app called Blippar, which lets mobile users unlock exclusive content like behind-the-scenes videos when the app wielder scans certain images.

The presentations were followed by short Q&A sessions with several mobile executives, including some of the earlier presenters, as well as Steve Yankovich, eBay Inc.’s vice president of innovation and new ventures. Given the diversity of the individuals on-stage, the resulting conversation jumped around and hit a number of different topics, including the challenges traditional retailers face in trying to become omni-channel resources, and the merits and risks of near-field communications (NFC).

In particular, the panel moderator asked Yankovich to describe eBay Inc.’s view of the retail industry from a mobile perspective.

Noting that in 2012, eBay Marketplaces generated $13 billion in mobile commerce volume, and PayPal processed $14 billion in mobile payment volume, Yankovich said the company was a partner, not a competitor to retailers.

“We don’t sell products ourselves; we’re the plumbing,” he said. “Mobile is going to be the catalyst for changing the retailing environment.”

When asked about the debate of NFC, Yankovich notes the he supported solutions that reduced friction. Because he lives in the “car crazy” San Francisco bay area, he added that as a use case, he wished he could just pull up to any gas station, pump his gas, and not have to pull out a phone to pay.

“It would be interesting to see if we can pull that off,” he said, adding that he would definitely sign up for that ability. Furthermore, he’d want to know “what’s the version of that for retail? How do I go completely frictionless?”

New technologies will tell.

“The terminology is obsolete,” said Gauthier, who currently serves as PayPal’s head of product strategy and business operations in retail services. ”Is it commerce or mobile commerce? Who cares? The future is about  connected commerce and making it easy for people to transact in multiple locations.”

Gauthier added that PayPal has over 123 million users already, and much of the company’s growth was due to its early investment in mobile. He also agreed with fellow panelists from MasterCard and Visa that in a connected world, there will be less focus on transaction fees.

As James Anderson, the group head of converged product development, emerging payments at MasterCard said, fees are inevitable, because there is a high cost to merchants if customers are unable to pay. He noted that in India, MasterCard has over 100 million issued cards, but oftentimes, cardholders used the cards to draw cash to pay merchants.

“If we can enable these merchants with cost-effective solutions,” he said, “then we can help grow the merchant’s business overall.”

“Because so many services are being digitalized, you need electronic payments to make them function,” added Brad Greene, senior business leader of mobile products at Visa. “The value of payments to commerse is only increasing.”

The panel ended on a back and forth about the future of near-field communications (NFC), which the panelists disagreed on (the credit card companies were in support, PayPal doesn’t think it’s the right solution), and the importance of growing mobile payments and services in underdeveloped counties.

They also ducked in keynotes about subjects like the future of communications, where so-called “over the top,” or OTT services like messaging start-up Viber Media both challenged and asked to cooperate with more traditional teleco operators like Deutsche Telekon and Ericsson.

“Consumers want innovation” and expect interoperability, argued Viber Chief Executive Talmon Marco, who added that it was the enhanced messaging experience — and not the little to no fees — that was the primary reason consumers were flocking to OTT services. As a proof point, Marco noted that 90% of the population of Monaco, the world’s richest country, used Viber. With a per capita GDP of $178,800, he said, theirs was a population that wasn’t unwilling to pay for service products.

Lavelle noted that part of the reason PayPal launched its mobile card reader PayPal Here was because the company wanted to help vouch for small businesses that might otherwise lose a sale from a dubious customer. Having a large partner like PayPal, he said, also helped with international sales, adding that over 40% of PayPal users will do a cross-border trade within their first several transactions.

Privacy is also a crucial issue when it comes to establishing and maintaining mobile payments customers, the group agreed, and having a strong brand was crucial to establishing both.

Not that customer loyalty should be taken for granted, said Sean Gilchrist , the managing director of digital banking at Barclays Bank. One mistake can ruin years of customer goodwill and the companies needed “to be sensitive” to their concerns, he said.

At the eBay Inc. booth, PayPal President David Marcus spoke about connected commerce and global and seamless payment solutions, while other companies used the press conference-heavy first day to announce new phones and other hardware products. Many executives also shared their expertise and opinions in a series of keynote addresses and panel sessions.

MWC’s opening keynote Monday morning featured the chief executives of AT&T, China Mobile, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and Vodafone, who individually — and later collectively in a moderated panel — spoke on the theme of mobile operator strategies. Most of the speakers discussed how the industry is currently in a time of unprecedented growth, but also warned that said growth is hampered by heavy-handed wireless regulation and taxation — a common refrain for this venue.

In particular, several of the speakers called out the growth of LTE and cloud-based technologies as playing  key roles in the future.

“LTE and cloud is the most powerful technological combination we have ever seen,” said AT&T’ Chief Executive Randall Stephenson, noting that at his company, mobile data traffic growth has jumped by 30,000% over the last six years. “Technology innovation is moving at warp speed,” he said.

]]> http://blog.ebay.com/2013/02/mobile-world-congress-opening-keynotes/feed/ 0 http://blog.ebay.com/2013/02/follow-ebay-inc-at-mobile-world-congress-2013/ http://blog.ebay.com/2013/02/follow-ebay-inc-at-mobile-world-congress-2013/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:00:54 +0000 eBay Inc. Staff http://blog.ebay.com/?p=17622 This week, thousands of mobile-obsessed entrepreneurs, app developers and executives will descend upon Barcelona, Spain for the annual Mobile World Congress conference. Put on by the GSM Association (GSMA), the conference hosts a series of panels, discussion sessions, and an exhibition hall dedicated to all things mobile.

A key element of eBay Inc’s mission is embracing the power of mobile. It’s a concept we’ve championed for years — and seen pay off. Last year alone, eBay mobile generated $13 billion in volume – more than double the prior year – and PayPal mobile transacted almost $14 billion in payment volume, more than triple the prior year. eBay Inc. is fueling a world of connected commerce, and we hope to share our story with you.

eBay Inc. executives and employees will be on site all week, offering their insights into how mobile technologies are reshaping today’s retail environment. We welcome all attendees to stop by our booth, as well as sit in on the following panels, all of which feature an eBay Inc. executive.

Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 4:50 p.m. — Nielsen: The New Value Exchange: Why Mobile Payments are Boosting Brands, with PayPal’s Mark Lavelle

Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 8:30 a.m. — MCommerce and What It Means for FMCG Brands, with PayPal’s Teppo Paavola

Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 4:00 p.m. — Retail Therapy: Enhancing the Shopping Experience Through Mobile, with eBay Inc.’s Steve Yankovich

Thursday, Feb. 28 at 11:30 a.m. — Mobile Money: Navigating the Mobile Wallets Landscape, with PayPal’s Hill Ferguson

For anyone who wants real-times updates about new eBay Inc. events and products, like the new chip and PIN version of our mobile payments solution PayPal Here, as well as new mobile trends gleaned from MWC, please follow our Twitter account @eBayInc. Our PayPal unit will also be tweeting and posting Instagram photos at @PayPal.

With a presence in over 190 countries, eBay Inc. has emerged as the connective tissue unifying individuals, businesses and communities looking to change the ways we buy and sell.