eBay was involved in two industry panels during CES that discussed the future of digital and mobile payment industries. The company was able to announce record mobile payment volume.

The Ebay Ink Blog was kind of enough to recap the panels that Ebay was involved with. The first panel was PayPal at “Mobile Payment Basics: How the Technology Works.” The title sounds like a boring introductory course, but it turned into a discussion on the pros and cons of the “wallet in the cloud” versus NFC solutions for mobile payments.

“We see the wallet in the cloud as the best way to bridge the gap between the online and offline world,” said David Marcus, VP/GM of Mobile for PayPal.

Andrew Paradise, CEO of Aislebuyer, agreed saying, “If I lose my iPhone, I don’t want to have to cancel all my credit cards. It would be no different than losing my wallet.”

Bill Gadja, Head of Mobile for Visa, was more in favor for NFC solutions, but said that “whatever technology we end up using, it’s all going to come down to the widespread education and adoption by the individual merchants.”

All at the panel agreed that 2012 may very well be the year of the digital wallet. Paypal used this to announce that their mobile payment volume had reached $4 billion, a huge increase from the original prediction of $1.5 billion.

The second panel, aptly named “Planet of the Apps,” included the eBay company proper with Steve Yankovich, VP of Ebay Mobile, speaking on the panel.

The panelists discussed trends in mobile apps in 2011, but Yankovich stressed the importance of QR codes in 2011. He predicts that the next big trend will be apps that utilize the camera on mobile devices.

Chris Hercik, Creative Director at Sports Illustrated, said that organizations need to adapt and react to shifts in consumer behavior. He presented the example of readers using the Sports Illustrated mobile app are asking for interactive ads instead of having to reject or be put off by them.

Yankovich went on to equate eBay to plumbing in that they only exist to connect the buyer to the seller.

eBay, like PayPal, did well in mobile in 2011 as well. The company’s global mobile gross merchandise volume reached $5 billion in 2011.

That’s the rationale behind the new “You + Ten Facebook Draft” application which looks at each person’s friends list and chooses the 10 people that should accommodate the winner using common Facebook social graphs.

The app is a continuation of a contest started in September that offered Visa card holders a chance to win a trip to the Super Bowl. There was a subsequent ad campaign featuring the fictional story of a man who had won the contest and the travels he shared with his 10 guests to Indianapolis. The campaign will end on February 5 at Super Bowl XLVI in Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis.

While the app uses common social graphs to determine the 10 people, it does so in unique and Super Bowl appropriate ways. A small sample of the names used for the 10 people chosen are “#1 Fan” for the friend who likes the most statuses or “VIP” for the friend that the potential winner is in a relationship with.

It uses all of this information to create a short video announcing the friends that the potential winner will be taking with them to Indianapolis with sports-like commentary. In the chance that the app makes unsatisfactory selections, it also allows the user to put their own selections into each section to create the custom video to their liking.

While Visa card holders were automatically entered for using their cards, this new Facebook app only reinforces the success of Facebook as an interactive and personal advertising vehicle.

Square COO Keith Rabbois told the Wall Street Journal that the company will continue to “explore collaborative partnerships that might make sense,” that the two companies’ visions “align”. The journal reports:

More than eight million U.S. businesses accept Visa and Mastercard, Rabois said. Square is trying to help the 27 million businesses and entrepreneurs that don’t accept credit cards because they haven’t qualified due to poor or no credit history, Rabois said.

The investment comes at a very interesting time in Square’s existence. The company is certainly really starting to build steam, but as you may know, Square co-founder Jack Dorsey recently returned to day-to-day operations at Twitter, in addition to remaining in the CEO role at Square. The man has his hands full, no doubt. He’s essentially taken Evan Williams’ place at Twitter, and Square continues to grow its staff.

Interestingly enough, Rabbois told the WSJ that he interacts with Dorsey the same amount that he did before Dorsey went back to Twitter. It doesn’t sound like the Twitter gig is putting too much of a strain on Square.

The backing of Visa should alleviate any of the concerns out there about Square’s potential for success, and about security, for that matter. You may recall earlier this year when Square competitor Verifone blasted Square over a security issue. The claims ended up being blasted themselves, and essentially called out as being a back-handed competitive stroke.

Now, you have to wonder if investments from other major credit card companies will follow.

Visa said the acquisition complements its further expansion into digital and mobile commerce.  The deal follows Visa’s purchase of another online payment company, CyberSource in July.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in Visa’s fiscal second quarter 2011 and is expected to slightly dilute the company’s earning per share in its fiscal year 2011 ending September 30, 2011.

Last year, global ecommerce sales reached an estimated $948 billion and they remain a significant growth opportunity for Visa. Approximately 45 percent of U.S. online spend takes place on Visa’s network today.

Anonymous paints itself as non-threatening to consumers, and emphasizes that its goal is to spread Wikileaks awareness. "We do not want to steal your personal information or credit card numbers. We also do not seek to attack critical infrastructure of companies such as Mastercard, Visa, PayPal or Amazon. Our current goal is to raise awareness about WikiLeaks and the underhanded methods employed by the above companies to impair WikiLeaks’ ability to function."

Anonymous says it did not attempt to bring Amazon down, though the company said in a statement that it successfully blocked numerous attempts (it’s possible that these were unrelated). Anonymous says, "We felt that it would affect people such as consumers in a negative way and make them feel threatened by Anonymous. Simply put, attacking a major online retailer when people are buying presents for their loved ones, would be in bad taste."

The entire release is below:

Who is Anonymous

The continuing attacks on PayPal are already tested and preferable: while not damaging their ability to process payments, they are successful in slowing their network down just enough for people to notice and thus, we achieve our goal of raising awareness.

We think some of our readers may find this valuable, so we spoke with Michael Lee of the Visa Business Network Outreach Team. He talked about how it helps businesses get started with building their Facebook and Twitter presences. 

Lee says, "There are two Facebook goals on the Visa Business Network; one is a basic step to help small business owners set up a Facebook page. The other goal is to help these business owners take the next step and actively promote their businesses through their newly-created Facebook page."

 "There is a Twitter goal, which is called ‘Learn to Use Twitter’. The Twitter goal goes through setting up a Twitter account and provides tips on best practices for promoting one’s business through Twitter. Besides the Facebook and Twitter goals, the site also features a goal on setting up email newsletters and another one on getting found online via services such as review sites and local directory listings."

We asked Lee what tips he has for businesses using social media. "Regarding tips in using social media to grow one’s business, we encourage smart use of networks such as Facebook and Twitter," he says. "Developing and fostering conversations with customers is by far the best way to effectively utilize social networks, as they are great platforms through which a business can publicly address any issues that arise. Of course, social media is simply one way to reach a wider audience, and the Visa Business Network features a variety of goals (with more planned for the future) that not only alert small business owners to different approaches they can take in marketing their businesses, but to the various best practices within each approach."

Those still in the early stages of navigating the online marketing waters may find the Visa Business Network incredibly helpful. If nothing else, it’s a good example of how a business can promote itself by offering valuable resources. 

Visa says it developed Rightcliq to address many of the frustration points consumers experience while shopping online. The company found in a recent survey that half of online shoppers rely on inconvenient methods – like bookmarking and written lists – to track items they are interested in buying, but not yet ready to purchase. Over 90% said they would do more online shopping if they had an easy way to compare items and see available merchant discounts and promotions.

"At Visa, we know consumers love to shop online, but they also want better ways to streamline the experience and eliminate some of the frustrations they encounter in the process,” says Gerry Sweeney, Visa’s global head of e-commerce and authentication. "Rightcliq is Visa’s answer to that consumer demand. Our deep knowledge of our consumers’ needs combined with our longstanding commitment to making ecommerce more convenient, secure and rewarding has resulted in a product that we believe will change the way people shop online. Today Visa is synonymous with a better way to pay. Rightcliq is a key step toward becoming the better way to shop."

"Rightcliq is unique in the marketplace, as it adds value across the whole shopping experience and offers the convenience and peace of mind consumers expect from Visa,” Sweeney said. "We think people will find Rightcliq not only helps them make smarter shopping decisions, but also makes online shopping simpler and more fun."

The tool includes the capability to track packages. As purchases are made, it will visually display the shipping status of all packages in one place.

Bloomberg reports that AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile USA are "planning a venture to displace credit and debit cards with smartphones". The companies would work with Discover Financial Services and Barclays Plc to test a system starting in Atlanta and three other unnamed U.S. cities.

"The trial would be the carriers’ biggest effort to spur mobile payments in the U.S. and supplant more than 1 billion plastic cards in American wallets," say Peter Eichenbaum and Margaret Collins in Bloomberg’s collaborative report. "Smartphones have encroached on tasks ranging from Web browsing to street navigation and now may help the phone companies compete with San Francisco-based Visa and MasterCard, the world’s biggest payments networks."

Even if the mobile carriers are successful in their venture, it will be a long time before the credit card is truly replaced. Smartphone usage is growing, but these devices are a long way off from being in everybody’s hands.

Meanwhile, it’s not as if the credit card companies are standing still in a stagnant pool of their old world ways. Visa and Master Card have both made moves recently that indicate they are going after PayPal, which is currently a big player in the mobile payments space.

MasterCard announced a developer initiative place MasterCard payment technology in mobile and online apps, while Visa launched its own PayPal competitor starting in Australia.

Om Malik at GigaOm has a good article on the mobile payments industry. He points out that a venture from the mobile carriers may hurt mobile payments startups. 

Would you like to replace your credit cards with your mobile phone? Share your thoughts.

Visa says it’s ideal for downloadable content such as music, games, and movies. The company cites an analysis from Investment Trends indicating that there will be $646 million of online micropayments (online transactions under $20) in Australia during 2010 across the online gaming, music and micro retail sectors.

"Visa has been making ecommerce payments as safe, reliable and convenient as possible since the advent of online shopping," says Chris Clark, General Manager Visa, Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific. "With global ecommerce continuing to grow at more than 10 percent annually, payclick continues this process. We know consumers seek convenience, security and value when shopping online – and payclick offers a secure way to pay."

Users can add money to their PayClick account using their existing Visa, MasterCard debit or prepaid cards, or bank accounts through BPay. Then they can shop online with any retailer that offers a PayClick button.

Big Pond Games, Big Pond Music, Flexischools, Habbo, iTunes and Kids Help Line were announced as the first sellers to accept PayClick. Videos about the service can be viewed here.

While it’s only available in Australia right now, PayClick will no doubt make its way around the world in time.

The "Click for a Cause" campaign allows people to click a button to trigger a $1 donation from Visa to purchase books for children living in poverty. Visa will provide Children International, a U.S.-based humanitarian organization, up to $50,000 toward the purchase of books to be placed in Children’s International’s nearly 100 libraries serving children in 11 countries.

"This is a great opportunity for us and for our children. Visa’s sponsorship of our "Click for a Cause" program will help us purchase more than 5,000 books for our libraries in impoverished communities around the world," said Jim Cook, President and CEO, Children International.

"Their support of this program definitely demonstrates Visa’s commitment to education and helping children find their way out of poverty."

According to the Institute for Excellence, only 10% of 6th grade students in Zambia can read at their grade level. UNICEF reports 31% of teen girls and 27% of boys in the least developed countries cannot read, keeping children in poverty throughout their lives.