PayPal, the online payment service owned by eBay Inc., has begun testing a new offering to allow people to make and receive payments using cell phones and other mobile devices.
PayPal Mobile is being tested by an unspecified number of eBay employees and will be available to the public in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom in the next few weeks, eBay spokeswoman Amanda Pires said.
PayPal Mobile will allow people to make person-to-person payments, buy items and donate to charities using mobile devices, Pires said. Users will be able to buy CDs, DVDs, shoes and other items by sending product codes as text messages.
EBay, an online auction house headquartered in San Jose, acquired PayPal in 2002. The service has about 100 million accounts.
Users will first have to register their mobile devices with PayPal’s Web site and select a code to protect them against unauthorized users.