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PayPal Mobile anticipates more business from BlackBerry relationship

Becoming the exclusive payment provider for Research In Motion's new BlackBerry App World store fits in perfectly with eBay Inc.-owned PayPal's plans for mobile.

The San Jose, CA-based company is banking on a flurry of downloads of paid applications on BlackBerry App World, currently open to BlackBerry owners nationwide and in Canada and Britain but soon expanding to other markets. The potential: 21 million BlackBerry owners who might act like Apple iPhone users and download application after application.

"The smartphone is becoming the center of interest focus for us because this is where we can drive consumer experiences," said Eric Duprat, general manager for mobile payments at PayPal.

"The new Internet game is becoming mobile and PayPal is perfectly positioned for that," he said.

PayPal Mobile on the BlackBerry platform will require a simple set-up process along with some of the same protocols in use across 190 markets.

"The focus for this year is to enable mobile commerce," Mr. Duprat said. "What you're seeing with Apple and RIM is the true beginning of mobile commerce."

PayPal is exposing APIs in a way which is open and flexible to support all platforms, he said.

"We're striving or enabling mobile commerce on mobile platforms, and RIM is our first major announcement in this space," Mr. Duprat said.

The launch last week of the BlackBerry App World store along with the incredible popularity of the Apple App Store -- 27,000 applications downloaded 800 million times -- will also mean more traffic for wireless carriers.

In addition, but the mobile device gains more relevance as application downloads provide more value to consumers.

While there are several ways to make payments on phones, one advantage that PayPal touts is the developer community's ease with the payment service.

"It's hard for a single developer to handle credit card payments," Mr. Duprat said.

PayPal is set to take advantage of several trends down the road. Purchase of mobile games is one, for example. Retail, while obvious for the mobile phone especially in impulse purchases, may be a little further out in the future, according to Mr. Duprat.

But a major opportunity is the mobile application itself.

"It's going to be necessary to make payments within the app," Mr. Duprat said.

There's no doubt that PayPal is a top priority for eBay, especially in mobile. EBay is already the leading mobile retailer. Also, the company's Skype phone service is now a highly popular download on the iPhone and other platforms.

PayPal's mobile business posted 400 percent growth, Mr. Duprat claimed.

Growing smartphone penetration will accelerate the acceptance of mobile commerce, which is where PayPal Mobile's opportunity lies. But the consumer has to be kept front and center in the whole process, and something that PayPal's network of millions of merchants have to bear in mind.

"My biggest challenge is to drive my partners into the best consumer experience," Mr. Duprat said. "We're very focused on consumer experience and that's something that's going to drive us on mobile phones.

"Because this is where success and failure will be differentiated," he said. "If it's easy to use with consumers it'll work. If it won't, it'll fail. Again, PayPal can enable a one-click payment experience."