PayPal Mobile plays 2nd fiddle to TextPayMe

Link: Third Screen: PayPal goes mobile – Mar. 6, 2006.

Now, in a push to expand its business outside eBay, which bought PayPal in 2002, PayPal is aggressively hiring to staff up a new mobile-payments service. It already has some talent in-house � for example, Mathias Entenmann, who is one of Paypal’s top executives and heads PayPal’s international operations, is a German entrepreneur who previously ran Paybox Solutions, a European mobile-payments company.

This is a useful overview article.  I wasn’t aware that PayPal was originally a mobile solution – fascinating. 

I don’t think it’s good enough for PayPal to wait until now to think about hiring staff and launching a service.  They should have sorted this out ages ago.  Why do I have to wait until I’m in front of a physical computer to complete a transaction?  While I’m at it, when will PayPal fix their ordering process?  Click. Click. SLOW. Click. SLOW. Click… Ordered.  Why so stupidly complex?  Come on, if Amazon can make it one-click, why can’t they?

Anyway I’m pleased to see TextPayMe wiping the floor with the multi-billion dollar Ebay/PayPal operation.  They’re mentioned as "looming competition" in the above CNN article right alongside PayPal!   Obviously PayPal have a super position from which to enter the mobile payments arena… but, if they’re still hiring at the moment, are we talking 6 months to a year before they get anything out the door?

The article says June.  If they hire a Product Manager today, i.e. he signs on the dotted line today, then he’s got to work another month for his notice.  That’s us in April.  Ok, he needs to take a week off before starting his new job.  He’s in the door now mid April and he’s getting his office pass, sorting stuff out with HR and doing exploratory meetings.  He’s also helping hire other people and finding his feet.  That’s us in June already before the Product Manager is getting stuck into anything concrete.

You never know, maybe they’ve got PayPal Mobile sat there on the shelf ready to rock!