eBay CEO Talks Impact of Mobile

eBay CEO John Donahoe sees enormous opportunity for PayPal online, on mobile devices and, increasingly, in the offline environment. "PayPal is delivering this innovation on a global scale," Donahoe said, according to a transcript of the company's earnings call provided by Seeking Alpha. "In fact, for the second consecutive quarter, more than half of PayPal's revenue came from outside the U.S., highlighting PayPal's expanding global footprint as people around the world look for a safer, easier way to pay in their domestic markets and across borders.” EBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion back in 2002. Donahoe said that the use of PayPal in mobile applications is growing. He used as an example retailer Cumberland Farms, which recently introduced an app known as SmartPay at 50 of its Boston area convenience store locations, which allows users to start the gas pump from their smartphone and pay for gas using PayPal. On the mobile front, eBay launched Watch with eBay, the company's first iPad app that combines shopping and entertainment. Watch with eBay serves up merchandise related to what users are watching on TV, enabling them to shop based on inspiration from their favorite TV shows. In the first quarter alone, the company reported 12 million downloads of eBay Mobile apps, bringing total downloads to 78 million since the launch of eBay Mobile. Donahoe said mobile is having a big impact on the eCommerce market. He said that eCommerce was up a couple of points to 17 percent and noted that mobile apps are helping to drive that growth. "This mobile is fundamentally changing the retail landscape, and there's no going back," Donahoe said, "This whole notion of a dual-device experience, having an iPad or a smartphone in your lap while you're watching TV, I think you'll see a lot of shopping innovation around that." EBay blew past expectations in the first quarter. The company saw earnings increase 20 percent, reporting $570 million in profits, up from $476 in the year-ago quarter. Revenue grew 29 percent to $3.28 billion from $2.55 billion. Analysts had expected lower revenue of $3.15 billion, according to FactSet.