The California-based online auction giant eBay is going to acquire a company called WHERE, it was recently announced. WHERE develops various location-based online services, such as mobile advertising and search and recommendation services.

The plan, post-acquisition, is for eBay to integrate WHERE's location-based applications with PayPal, so that transactions can be accomplished more easily with mobile devices.

The announcement of the deal said that integrating PayPal and the WHERE mobile app will "make it even easier for PayPal customers to take advantage of the local deals." WHERE is a hyper-local ad network and offers a mobile app that allows people to find personalized deals and local recommendations instantly.

The announcement was actually made on the official blog of PayPal. A PayPal executive said of the deal that "Local commerce companies like WHERE are blurring the lines between in-store and online shopping. By giving people hyper-local, relevant retailer information and deals on their mobile phones, we see a huge opportunity for local merchants to reach more buyers, and for consumers to get more choice and value when they shop."

The acquisition of WHERE builds upon eBay's purchase of Milo late last year. Milo has developed software that can plug into a merchant's inventory management system, enabling it to instantly keep tabs on all of the retailer's products.

San Diego mergers and acquisitions attorneys noted that the deal is expected to be finalized before the end of the quarter. The sale price and other details of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Source: auctionbytes "eBay Acquires WHERE Mobile App Service" 4/20/2011