PayPal is about to make a strategic entry into mobile web with the launch of Mobile Checkout, a mobile service that will allow anyone with a PayPal account to buy things using their mobile browsers. 

Rumors have been flying around as PayPal apparently has been diligently working on the product for quite some time. In fact, I wouldn’t rule out an announcement next week at CTIA. The product is in beta right now and is planned for release later this year. Once out, PayPal Mobile Checkout will allow people to buy stuff they’re searching for on their mobile phones.

We could not get an official comment from PayPal of course, but a credible and passionate inside source has indeed verified the rumor and was kind enough the leak the following screen shot:

The payment process is the same as PayPal online – you enter your PayPal user name and password. Along the way you can create a pin so that future transactions are much faster. You don’t have to fill out a long web form of addresses and credit card numbers – which is unsafe and a pain on a mobile phone.

The mobile web has been yearning for payment solutions for a while now. Premium SMS is commonly used for mobile payments but mostly for single, micro transactions such as voting, media and alerts. While premium SMS is very intuitive, it is not trouble free. Mobile operators grab roughly 50% of the revenue and there have been quite a few reliability issues. The opportunity for real ”Mobile Payments 2.0″ is definitely there.

PayPal announced last week that it has reached 35 Million subscribers in Europe and about 150 Million subscribers worldwide. It was only expected that the successful web giants would start porting their services to the mobile space and PayPal is apparently the first significant player about to make an entry.