eBay CEO: Mobile Is the Safest Way to Pay

Today, eBay CEO John Donahoe participated in a PayPal Innovate panel with Andreessen-Horowitz partner Marc Andreessen and focused on where things are headed in the mobile space. The Wall Street Journal’s Kara Swisher served as moderator for the discussion.

On the topic of mobile payments, Donahoe and Andreessen agreed — the time is now.

The discussion wasn’t focused around any one technology or service (other than PayPal), but Donahoe went on to boldly assert that “mobile is the safest way to pay,” gesturing with his mobile phone to indicate that this device will soon replace his wallet.

Donahoe’s argument was that there isn’t “a shred of financial information” stored on the mobile phone, which makes it a much safer entity to lose than the wallet by comparison. Donahoe believes we’re closing in on the day when the mobile phone will be both personal identifier and credit card, and eliminate the need for a wallet altogether — PayPal being your credit card replacement and the mobile phone being your wallet, in his mind.

Andreessen was also very adamant that mobile payments is blooming in a big way. He argues that we’re now at a time when the pace of innovation will explode to finally support scale and exciting new ways for customers to pay.

The mobile payments space is now extremely competitive, and we know from news announced yesterday on Mobile Express Checkout that it’s an area PayPal hopes to dominate. There’s also a number of startups ranging from Square to Boku (an Andreessen-Horowitz startup) to Venmo taking their own unique approach to mobile payment solutions.

As for credit card companies posing a threat to these fresh faces, Andreessen and Donahoe again are in agreement — that’s not going to happen.

[via mashable]

Posted in: eBay