This is the first mobile pre-load deal agreed by eBay anywhere in the world, and the first time Telefonica has selected an app to make available to its O2 smart and feature phone customers across the board.
eBay’s mobile app is one of the most popular shopping destinations for O2 customers, who are already responsible for a significant proportion of eBay’s UK mobile traffic. O2 customers in the UK will be the first to benefit from the arrangement, but eBay’s mobile shopping experience is expected to roll out to other Telefonica markets worldwide.
Starting later this year the eBay mobile app icon or a link to the eBay mobile site will appear on either the home page or two subsequent pages of most Android, Windows Phone 7, Symbian, RIM and bada devices sold by O2 in the UK over the next two years. The company will work with device manufacturers to pre-install the application.