Ebay is betting big on mobile shopping. Last month we revealed what a hit the Ebay iPhone app already had proved — ringing up $400m in sales.
“More than 4.6m people have downloaded the Ebay app,” we wrote, “using it to buy not just books and clothes, but also a Lamborghini, a $150,000 boat, and a Bentley.”
Now Ebay is rolling out a suite of new and upgraded mobile offerings. In addition to a refreshed Ebay iPhone App and a updated mobile website (m.ebay.com), it is also debuting a new app called Deals.
Deals features a streamlined navigation that displays only the best bargains across the site. All the “deals” have less than four hours of listing time remaining, zero bids, no reserve, and free or fixed price shipping included in the total cost.
Ebay thinks it’s on to something. The company said that by the end of the year, more than $500m in merchandise will be purchased through its mobile offerings.
“It’s apparent that consumers want to shop for what they want, when they want and where they want, and that’s not necessarily when they’re sitting in front of a computer or even walking through a store,” said Ebay marketplaces president Lorrie Norrington.
It’s also apparent that at least for now, Ebay is focussing its mobile efforts on Apple’s platform. Quick searches of Google’s Android Market and Palm’s Catalog turned up no apps made by Ebay.
