eBay CEO: Paying for things is about to get a lot easier

The way people pay for things is changing fast -- but it's about to start changing even faster, eBay CEO John Donahoe said this morning.

Speaking at the BoxWorks conference, Donahoe said the rapid adoption of mobile devices by consumers was making it easier for consumers to pay in a variety of new ways. Countless companies have sprung up trying to cater to those consumers, he said, and the result will be a flurry of innovations.

"Most people are underestimating how fundamentally the shopping and payment experience is going to change," said Donahoe, who has led eBay since 2008.

John Donahoe speaking to Marc Andreessen at BoxWorks.

(Credit: Casey Newton/CNET )

For its part, Donahoe said, eBay has made mobile payments a high priority. Its PayPal business has introduced several new ways to pay -- a fact that has largely been lost in a media environment that has focused on its chief competitor, Square. Donahoe praised one of the changes eBay has brought to the market in particular: users can hit a "PayPal" button at Home Depot and pay using a mobile phone number and a four-digit PIN code, without ever removing a phone or wallet from their pockets.

And while eBay is sometimes seen as the stodgy old plumbing of e-commerce, Donahoe released a flurry of statistics showing how quickly its users are adapting to the mobile world. Its apps have been downloaded more than 100 millio... [Read more]