Online payment platform PayPal clinched a deal with Uber Technologies Inc, a car service firm. The partnership allows users of Uber's mobile booking app to pay using Paypal. Uber's riders in the US, France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands will be able to make payments via PayPal beginning today. In an interview with reporters, PayPal President David Marcus said customers who will use PayPal before November 28 will be eligible to get USD 15 or EUR 15 for the next time they go on an Uber trip.
The deal allows PayPal to penetrate more modern marketplaces aside from EBay which acquired the Internet payment firm in 2002. Although PayPal has become a multibillion dollar business, Marcus said it was not quite quick in advancing to marketplaces which focused on mobile users and developers. He explained the service while acting as an Uber driver, showing reporters around San Francisco on a black Ford Expedition.
Marcus said, "Our experiences inside mobile apps were not meeting the bar a year ago. It's important to be where disruption occurs. You want to partner with the companies creating an amazing consumer experience." Marcus became President of Paypal in April last year.
Citing data from Forrester Research, a Bloomberg report said the mobile payments market in the US is set to increase to USD 90 billion in four years. It currently stands at USD 20.5 billion this year. This is where PayPal faces tougher competition from the likes of Google Inc and Square Inc.
PayPal built functions that had enable users to pay without having to exit the merchant's app. This development would be able to make PayPal work more smoothly with mobile services. Marcus said these improvements will also facilitate PayPal's move to other popular online spaces like Airbnb Inc, a room-sharing service that does not utilize PayPal in its mobile app.
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