Paypal and SMS - a goldmine waiting to be exploited

Some months ago I ran into a real breakthrough technology called Paypal "text and buy". It was something I ran into after working out how to send money using my cell phone to a virtual assistant I work with hear in South Orange County from time to time.

The text to buy service is another thing entirely. Basically it means that any company with an SMS address ie a 7 digit SMS id, can then link a product id with a number and have customers pay for the product immediatly with their cell phones using their Paypal account.

See how this works: You see an add in a magazine for a product you want to buy, the add has an SMS number to call and a product ID, you make the SMS, the seller responds with a confirmation SMS and then Paypal SMS's you for a confirmation of the transaction. Done deal.

This looks like a particularly sweet methodology for smaller items like music and videos. Imagine hearing a song on the radio and at the end a voice says dial 44672 with code 2243. How cool is that!