ICT and Internet Business is an Independent Blog Focusing on ICT and Internet Business, eBusiness, Digital Media, Online Advertising, Internet Marketing, Mobile and Wireless, etc.

Google, eBay in Talks to Add PayPal Option to Android Market

By Jason Ankeny

Google is in talks with eBay to incorporate the online auction giant's PayPal digital payment service into its Android Market application storefront in an effort to simplify the software purchase process. Citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports Google may introduce a PayPal option as soon as this year--at present, consumers must pay for Android Market downloads via credit card or Google's Checkout service.

Conventional wisdom suggests a more popular and user-friendly Android Market purchase option would galvanize developer interest in creating apps for the Android platform--last week, research firm Gartner reported that Android is now the third largest smartphone operating system worldwide, edging past Apple's iOS, but Apple's App Store boasts more than 225,000 applications for the iPhone and iPod touch while Android Market features about 70,000. PayPal boasts 87 million active accounts, and continues to add roughly a million new users per quarter.

In late June, Google updated the terms of its Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement in advance of introducing new application payment mechanisms, strongly hinting it will expand the storefront's operator billing options. Writing on the Android Developers Blog, Android developer advocate Tim Bray stated the DDA changes impact Section 13.1, adding "authorized carriers" as an indemnified party, as well as the new Section 13.2, which covers indemnity for payment processors for claims related to tax accrual. The updated DDA "is in preparation for some work we're doing on introducing new payment options, which we think developers will like," Bray wrote. [FierceWireless]

PayPal Opens Payments Platform to Developers

By Jason Ankeny

Online payment solutions provider PayPal announced its decision to open its PayPal X global platform to developers, unveiling a series of new APIs as well as a mobile SDK to embed payments directly into iPhone applications.

According to PayPal, developers can now build person-to-person solutions or business-to-business payment applications on their platform of choice, whether it's a mobile device or a social networking site. Developers can also take a cut or distribute funds from PayPal payments as they happen, and can enable buyers to send money to several people in one payment. The mobile SDK--scheduled to launch in the first half of 2010--will enable developers to integrate PayPal services into mobile apps so that consumers can purchase physical goods; PayPal adds that funds will be transferred in a matter of seconds.

New capabilities and enhancements for PayPal's Adaptive Payments APIs include currency conversion for international purchases, Pay Anyone (enabling financial and other institutions to allow customers to send money when logged in to their bank accounts, regardless of whether the customer has a PayPal account) and pre-approvals (giving developers the flexibility to create reusable payments agreements between buyers and sellers). A new developer portal, X.com, promises all the information developers need to create applications built with PayPal X. PayPal now boasts more than 78 million active accounts in 190 markets and 24 currencies worldwide. [FierceDeveloper]

Recent Posts-

Flickr Photostream-

100_3495 100_3492 100_3475 100_3491 100_3493 100_3486 100_3541 100_3605 100_3814 100_3365 100_3519 100_3224 100_3649 100_3800 100_3412 100_3559 100_3425 100_3567