It is a crazy, crazy world, when you can essentially wave your phone at another phone and poof, a payment has been made. And you know? That’s PayPal Mobile in a nutshell.

Let’s just say if you’ve got an iPhone, Android or Blackberry, there’s really no reason not to make use of this app.

It’s totally easy to download the app, or just go to m.paypal.com from your smartphone browser so you can grab a movie for the kids off iTunes, or put in the winning eBay bid while you’re slumming it at Starbucks. You can even manage your finances with text messages which I think is pretty cool.

If you text 729725 (PAYPAL) with the word bal, you check balances. Or use other simple commands to send or receive money, or even change the currency–say you’re buying the cutest Etsy find ever and need to pay in Australian Dollars. The best part is, the other person doesn’t even have to have a PayPal account–just an email address or mobile number. And isn’t that everyone these days?

iPhone users get to move cash around using the 4.5 star-rated mobile PayPal app for iPhone which makes use of the Bump technology.

At first I was not entirely sure why I might need to Bump money to someone else. Then the folks at PayPal gave me a few excellent examples. Like if you find yourself at a tag sale without your checkbook. Or you want to arm your older child with some emergency cash before they head out the door. Of course that requires both of you having the PayPal app,
but increasingly, I don’t see that as a big obstacle.

The app is simple looking–nothing particularly sophisticated looking or fancy. I do wish they’d make it just a little more visually appealing. But eh, financial services companies; they’re not always so concerned with the prettier things in life. They’re too busy making sure that you won’t care the next time you run out of checks. –Liz

Learn more about Mobile PayPal online at PayPal, or download the mobile PayPal app from the iTunes store.