eBay leaps onto mobile web with O2's i-mode

O2 is set to announce it has signed up auction giant eBay to its i-mode mobile internet service.

The service, which can already be accessed via i-mode enabled handsets, is thought to be receiving its official launch soon.

eBay will now be able to offer its users the chance to check their auctions on the move, with a version of the site specially optimised for use on mobile handsets, using technology developed by NTT DoCoMo in Japan.

The i-mode version of eBay provides most of the same functionality as the regular internet service, including the ability to bid, search the auction site and monitor the progress of auctions using the 'my eBay' function.

eBay users won't be able to pay for purchases on their mobiles, however – auction winners will have to return to their computers to use PayPal or pay offline. O2 is hoping the service will appeal most to auction addicts who want to register last-minute bids while away from their PCs.

According to Alex Zadvorny, senior analyst at Analysys, a mobile eBay could prove more popular with sellers rather than buyers, however.

Zadvorny said: "It's good for O2. eBay is one of those applications people will eventually find useful [on i-mode], particularly people that like to be close to the bidding all the time."

He said: "This is something incremental rather than something that will transform i-mode. I don't think it will necessarily add too many users – I don' t think many people use their phones for mobile transactions."

If the service follows O2's typical i-mode pricing structure, it will cost up to £3 per month to use. One avid user of the auction site said the i-mode service's 'my eBay' and outbid notifications would appeal to her but the pricing structure could put buyers and sellers off.

She said: "Bearing in mind PayPal charge and so do eBay for using their services, [any charge] would have to be minimal."

eBay has already made its appearance on i-mode in a handful of geographies including Australia, France and Singapore.

i-mode has in excess of 50 million users across the globe and, annually, more than a billion dollars of transactions are carried out using the service in Japan alone, where around 90 per cent of i-mode users are located.

Informa Telecoms and Media principal analyst Gavin Patterson said eBay's decision to sign up with i-mode in the UK may be a strategic one.

Patterson said: "For eBay, it's more than a deal with O2. You would imagine they're looking to get onto most of the i-mode platforms. Maybe the goal here is i-mode in Japan."

eBay took its first steps into the mobile world in the UK when it launched eBay Anywhere last year. eBay Anywhere essentially works an SMS alert system, sending notifications to users of the auction site when they have won or lost an auction, or have been outbid.

Both eBay Anywhere and eBay via i-mode were developed by mobile content company Volantis.