Top 10 of 2010: A quick sprint through PayPal Mobile

[This was my third most popular X.com item last year.]

I am currently finishing up an article introducing developers to PayPal X mobile development.  Before it publishes, I thought it might be useful to set the stage with a short post on all of PayPal’s mobile options for consumers as well as developers.

PayPal offers consumers mobile access to their services via:

• Text messaging (SMS)
• Mobile web browsers
• Standalone smartphone applications for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry devices
• Whatever services developers build using the PayPal X mobile APIs below

The consumer mobile services let you manage and use your PayPal account.  Among other things, you can use the text-based SMS interface, mobile browser access at http://m.paypal.com, or a standalone app on your smartphone to send and request money, check your PayPal account balance, and view your account history.  Every operation is password or pin confirmed for security.

On SMS, you send one of several text message keywords to 729725 (PAYPAL).  Keywords include BAL or BALANCE to check your balance,  SEND and TO to send money to someone with a given mobile number or email address, GET and FROM to request money from a specified person, VOID or X to cancel a pending payment, or HELP for, drum roll please, helpful information from the system.  For example, to send ten dollars to a friend whose email is username@example.com, you could send the following SMS text message to 729725:

SEND 10 to username@example.com

The web and native applications provide similar functionality with a few bonus tools to help with things like splitting the check at a group dinner, collecting money from a group of contributors for an event or gift, and setting reminders for one-time or recurring payments.  Please see the PayPal Mobile Payments page for screenshots and additional information on the consumer web and native apps.

Developers can in turn use the web or native application APIs to interact with the PayPal system on behalf of their customers and users:

• Mobile Checkout and coming later this year Mobile Express Checkout
• Mobile Payments Library for Android and iOS (iPhone and iPad)

Click here to finish reading the blog post on the PayPal X Developer Network.