|
 |  San Francisco Chronicle -
Nov-05-2009PayPal looks for developers' applications(topic overview)
CONTENTS:
- This new PayPal payment experience, which uses PayPal'''s new Adaptive Payments APIs, enables developers to provide an optimal PayPal purchase experience for frequent microtransaction type purchases. (More...)
- A couple years ago PayPal introduced the Website Payments Pro program aimed at providing small and medium businesses (SMB) with a platform for conducting secure online transactions. (More...)
- The games are free, but users can also purchase digital goods - Farmville sells more virtual tractors than John Deere sells real ones. (More...)
- PayPal bills itself as a shopper's online wallet. (More...)
- Payvment, a shopping cart web service that we wrote about here, is using PayPal's API on Facebook. (More...)
- The company will be onsite at the event and available to talk to any game developers interested in finding out how the Super Rewards offer management platform can increase user engagement while driving significant revenue to the developer. (More...)
- Separately, the company said it is lowering the cost of certain transactions in a bid to capture a greater share of payments now being made by checks and cash. (More...)
- SAN FRANCISCO — Most people know eBay Inc. for its online marketplace, where deals abound on everything from gadgets to antique furniture. (More...)
- The Inside Source, a new online magazine from eBay, publishes stories about fashion and decorating trends while pitching products on eBay. (More...)
- Amazon previously launched a somewhat similar technology, called PayPhrase, which allows users to enter an identifying passphrase and a PIN at a partner site, and automatically route the purchase to a predetermined credit card and address. (More...)
SOURCES
FIND OUT MORE ON THIS SUBJECT
This new PayPal payment experience, which uses PayPal'''s new Adaptive Payments APIs, enables developers to provide an optimal PayPal purchase experience for frequent microtransaction type purchases. Customers will be able to make faster, easier transactions without leaving their favorite games and social network applications. Customers simply establish a pin with PayPal that they can then enter directly when using PlaySpan'''s payment products to complete in-app purchases. The first product to showcase this new functionality is the Spare Change payment network, which facilitates microtransactions for over 500 third-party applications on Facebook. '''The PayPal X platform and PlaySpan will enable developers to increase conversion and revenue from their online games, virtual worlds, and social networks. [1] The new payment system combines PlaySpan's virtual goods platform with PayPal's popular electronic payments service. PayPal is launching a new Adaptive Payments application programming interface, a part of its new PayPal X platform, which lets customers make PayPal purchases directly inside social networks. It's all about breaking down the barriers that stop consumers from making impulse purchases in online games. Currently, PayPal users have to visit another web page when they indicate that they want to pay for a virtual good with PayPal. Many users tend to cancel transactions that take them out of a game or social app. So now, with the PlaySpan-based virtual good platform, PayPal users can make a purchase inside the game.[2]
In July, PayPal announced that access Adaptive API Payments to other operators. This tool allows developers to integrate PayPal system to their own applications independent of whether you want to use social networking or mobile phones. The interface has been enhanced with new features such as currency conversions in international transactions. With the tool, Pay Anyone will enable financial institutions to make online payments via PayPal and customers who do not have an account for this service. Payments can be arrange in advance, and during their implementation of the user need not be connected to the Internet.[3] '''You'''ve got to have better pricing. 3% doesn'''t cut it for rent.''' Several new APIs for such functions as currency conversion, pre-approvals, and person-to-person payments were announced at the conference to join APIs for chained, parallel, and single payments that PayPal first disclosed this summer (Digital Transactions News, July 8). PayPal says the new APIs, collectively called Adaptive Payments, should give developers a head start in creating new applications that would otherwise require months or years of programming to take account, for example, of complicated requirements such as compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard. Companies already taking advantage of the new APIs include Fidelity National Information Services and S1 Corp., both of which announced they will use an API to let client banks enable person-to-person payments. FIS will pilot the service, which will rely on online-banking sites, in the first quarter and make it live for its entire client base in the second quarter.[4] The model is a $0.50 cents flat free per transaction or 0.75 percent of transaction depending on user cases. PayPal is even gaining traction from large tech companies to integrate the new API. This morning, Sun Microsystems announced a partnership with PayPal to support for-fee applications submitted by developers for distribution in the Java Store. Utilizing the new Adaptive Payment API from PayPal, consumers can authorize the Java Store to bill against their PayPal account so they can simply click the "Buy" button and never have to leave the store.[5] Chained Payments and Parallel Payments APIs that will give developers the ability to deal with a variety of scenarios in which payments needs to be sent to multiple recipients. An Adaptive Accounts API that will permit developers to create PayPal accounts from within their own applications without the need to send non-PayPal users to PayPal's website. One of the goals with these APIs is to tap into the types of transactions that PayPal isn't traditionally used to complete. Specifically, PayPal is targeting " markets that are traditionally served by cash and checks, such as rent, consulting businesses or payroll ". For developers who build applications serving these markets, PayPal's introductory pricing will be 50 cents for transactions that are funded with a bank account and which settle within three days, and a.75% transaction fee for transactions that are settled instantly. These APIs will no doubt create lots of opportunities for developers, which could potentially lead to an Adaptive Payments ' gold rush ' as these APIs become available. While there are many appealing development platforms these days, monetization on many of them is difficult.[6]
The network is the platform on which the potential of digital money will be fully realized." The Adaptive Payments APIs that have been beta tested, and are now available to all developers, allow straight payments from customers to the PayPal accounts of receivers such as owners of Web sites or widgets on social networking sites. The API is gaining traction in the top-end computing market, with Sun promising to use the app in its online Java store and Microsoft onboarding it for use in its Azure cloud computing model.[7]
EBay Inc.' s PayPal plans to unveil a new system that makes it easier for software developers to integrate the online payments system right into their programsas the company takes new steps to protect its turf. With the new open software, called Paypal X, users won't have to type their username and password into a separate PayPal Web site in order to complete a payment. People will be able to sign into PayPal and make purchases, such as virtual weapons, right inside an application such as a game. "We're taking all of our product capabilities and making them open and.[8] The PayPal X platform hasn't yet been announced, although The Wall Street Journal has a bit of a preview. Here's the key quote: "With the new open software, called Paypal X, users won't have to type their username and password into a separate PayPal Web site in order to complete a payment. People will be able to sign into PayPal and make purchases, such as virtual weapons, right inside an application such as a game."[9]
Announcing a set of tools required for building apps on top of the popular PayPal service, which boasts of nearly $2,000-per-second transactions, eBay CEO John Donahoe said at the PayPal X Innovate 2009 conference in San Francisco that the new open payments system, PayPal X, will enable businesses to profitably tap the popular payment platform.[10] CNBC reporters were among those swept up in the PayPal Mania taking place in San Francisco at the first dedicated PayPal developers conference. Even attending virtually, I could sense that something was different about this DevCon despite the lack of Cirque du Soleil acrobatics or "Cheers" impersonators of previous eBay/PayPal shared conferences. It was as if the smell of money was in the air, even before the Venture Capitalists show up for their panel tomorrow. John Donahoe said he could care less about the name of the company (ouch). The DevCon was all about opening up the PayPal platform, which he compared to Apple's opening of the iPhone to third-party applications. In his keynote address this morning, Mr. Donahoe said he had given PayPal an unlimited budget to hire the people to make it happen. Mobile payments was top of mind, and Mr. Donahoe said the eBay iPhone app will do $500 million of volume this year.[11]
Online payments only represent 5 percent of payments worldwide, Donahoe thinks that online payments should be higher than 20 percent. He believes consumer behavior with regard to payments will change radically in the next few years. This year the eBay app on the iPhone will do $500 million in volume, with PayPal integrated in the payments system. He says he thinks PayPal will be bigger than eBay in time, which he has said before. He wants to double PayPal's reach in the next two years. The developers are a critically important part of PayPal's future, with the company's role to provide robust platforms, such as PayPal X.[5]
Today it added a little more incentive, by announcing the PayPal X Developer challenge, where the creators of the most innovative payments apps will receive a total of $150,000 in cash and waived PayPal transaction fees. Basically, the PayPal platform is supposed to give companies and developers more flexibility about how they process payments, by opening up a number of new APIs to developers. When the platform was first announced in July, PayPal executives said they wanted their technology to become the “electricity” that powers all online commerce.[12] PayPal X Innovate PayPal and eBay have opened their PayPal X developer platform to world+dog. Named with a nod to PayPal's original url, this new collection of APIs is pitched as a way for developers to embedded payment processing in everything from third-party web apps to online app stores to outside dev platforms.[13]
PayPal has been successful because the company has met customer needs for a safe secure, way to pay online. Thompson says the industry has been slow to embrace payment technologies, not because the ideas were bad but because it's a very complicated issue. Today, PayPal opens up its platform, called PayPal X, to all developers. X was originally PayPal's API platform in its early days.[5]
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- 11/03/09 -- PayPal X Innovate 2009 -- Super Rewards has selected PayPal X, the world's first truly global open payments platform, to enhance its virtual currency offer platform, which addresses the payment needs of millions of global consumers who are engaging daily in social games and virtual worlds. The Super Rewards virtual currency offer platform allows game developers to give consumers an alternative way to easily and securely purchase their in-game virtual currency.[14] "Super Rewards is among the first wave of innovators to take advantage of PayPal X to simplify consumers' online payment experience while increasing revenue for game and social application developers," said Osama Bedier, PayPal's vice president of platform. "With PayPal X, developers can focus on what they do best -- creating great applications -- and we take care of all the complexity around payments."[14]
To find out how to get your own Paypal X app you can go to www.x.com and join up with other developers and learn how to program and develop your own custom payment system. It really opens up the world of cellphones and mobile devices. It is a logical move for Paypal that should help create more online marketplaces that will make it easier for consumers to purchase items easily. This could be Paypal's answer to Google's competition, with their application data for micropayments that they are working on.[15] PayPal Introduces Open API to Put Payments Into Apps PayPal used its inaugural PayPal X Innovate 2009 conference in San Francisco to officially announce the PayPal X program to release APIs allowing developers to integrate PayPal seamlessly into third-party applications. Microsoft Discontinues Accounting Software Microsoft will no longer sell its Office Accounting software.[16] PayPal X Innovate In Facebook-like fashion, PayPal will open its own website to third-party applications as it continues its quest to "power all of ecommerce." At its inaugural developer conference in San Francisco on Tuesday - PayPal X Innovate 09 - the eBay-owned outfit took the beta tag off its PayPal X developer platform, a set of APIs for tapping its core payment-processing system straight from third-party apps.[17]
PayPal believes payments for services is a bigger opportunity than ecommerce at over $30 trillion and is opening its platform to third-party developers to capitalize on the opportunity. PayPal is expecting 1,500 attendees at its first dedicated developers conference taking place in San Francisco this week where it will launch the open platform, called "PayPal X."[18] Last month, Scott Thompson, president of PayPal, mentioned the open developer plan at a Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. "In just two weeks, PayPal will be the first global online payment service to open its platform to everyone," said Thompson.[19] PayPal held its first developer conference in San Francisco to officially open its platform to software developers wanting to include payments in their Web or cellphone applications.[20] '''By opening up our platform, we hope to facilitate innovation in payments by enabling local developers to create new payment solutions for goods and services beyond traditional e-commerce. It'''s also an opportunity for developers to monetise applications they'''ve built on the back of PayPal'''s open platform.''' Among the Australian developers attending PayPal Innovate 2009 in San Francisco this week are Steven Cooper (Katmatcreations), Stu Andrews (Code Biscuit), as well as Keith Mason (ACP Magazines), who won an all expenses paid trip to the event as part of a competition last month.[21] SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)--EBay Inc.' s (EBAY) PayPal unit on Tuesday launched new technology that makes it easier for third-party software developers to fold the online payments system into their own applications. The move comes as the Internet commerce giant looks to the PayPal unit to serve as a key growth driver, while eBay works to make much-needed changes to its core marketplaces business--and as PayPal faces looming competition from some of the Web's biggest names.[22] According to "The Wall Street Journal" Web site reported, eBay.com online payment service PayPal launched a new technology Tuesday, which facilitate third-party software developers integrate PayPal payment system into their own application software.[23] Now, a buyer can agree to give the seller a certain amount and the seller can collect the money at any time, so a reader could buy a $50 subscription and subtract 50 cents for each article. Mark Glasberg is using PayPal for his start-up, iCents.net, which will offer online publishers a way to charge viewers. "Before today, there wasn't a way to do this because it would disrupt the user experience if we were always asking you to go to PayPal and type in all your information," he said. PayPal's new technology also lets Web sites take cuts from PayPal payments as they happen, which was not possible before. Clayton Bain, founder of a company called MedPayOnline.com that lets patients pay medical bills on the Web, used to have a complicated system to collect his transaction fee from hospitals.[20] To illustrate what can be done with the platform, the company put me in touch with one of the beta testers, MedPayOnline. The company offers an online service to help hospitals process payments, and says it has used the PayPal platform to streamline its service. For MedPayOnline, the most significant change may be the ability to collect its fees right away it charges a transaction fee for each payment that it processes for hospitals, but it previously only got paid once a day, as a lump sum. "It could cause a significant amount of heartache," said chief executive Clayton Bain. "Granted, we're not talking about months here, we're talking about hours, but within those hours a lot of bad things can happen." Bain said the new APIs also make it easier for MedPayOnline to instantaneously make chained payments of its own. When it's paid by hospitals, the company's partners (i.e., companies that package MedpayOnline with other services) get paid right away, too.[12] "We're introducing new APIs and new pricing," said Osama Bedier, VP of Platform technology at PayPal. Specifically, PayPal will charge 50 cents as a flat fee for transactions, in an effort to encourage more micropayments and applications that facilitate them. Many new APIs are available, and the snapshot of a'' slide below shows only some of them. (All are available at X.com.) The Adaptive Payments API has capabilities for currency conversion, enhancements such as faster pre-approval,'' and can send payments between many types of mobile devices, Bedier said.[24] PayPal's new APIs make it possible for developers to let people who are not PayPal members to sign up for the service within the application. Developers will also be able to let users of their applications make payments to several people in one payment, making it possible to purchase multiple items from different sellers or to conduct non-commercial transactions, such as paying wages to employees. PayPal is particularly interested in getting its service folded into mobile applications, betting that people will increasingly use their smartphones for conducting transactions.[25] PayPal also announced it will introduce new pricing early next year for payments for so-called services for which it expects developers will create applications, including rent, payroll, and government payments. The new pricing is 50 cents or 0.75% per transaction, and applies when payors use existing PayPal accounts or the automated clearing house to fund their payments.[4]
The network is the platform on which the potential for digital money will be fully realized. Thompson said that there are over 78 million active PayPal accounts, and Bedier added that PayPal transactions total more than $70 billion per year, but eBay CEO John Donahoe said he expects PayPal to get much bigger, and, in fact, become much bigger than eBay is. "We believe that the Internet, and e-commerce, and online payments are still in their early days.[24] John Donahoe, chief executive of PayPal parent eBay Inc., told the audience of developers that the decision to open the PayPal platform was driven largely by the need to harness developers''' work in payments to meet eBay'''s stated goal to double PayPal'''s size over the coming three years. That work will clearly expand PayPal'''s ability to innovate, said Scott Thompson, PayPal'''s president, in a news conference later in the morning. '''What these developers are doing will supplement our R&D spend,''' he said.[4]
During a conference for developers Innovate 2009 PayPal introduced PayPal next development platform X and converted new API, as well as a special set of tools for making the payments from the mobile applications.[3] PayPal has opened its global payments platform called PayPal X, providing new APIs, a new developer portal, and some introductory services pricing to help developers take advantage of PayPal X to build businesses.[26] When Steve Ballmer repeated the now-famous and parodied words, " Developers, developers, developers ", he may have been far more sane than he looked at the time. From Apple to Facebook, some of today's most successful and popular internet companies are taking advantage of third party developers to extend their products and make them more useful and appealing. In many cases, these companies owe some of their success to developers. It's not entirely surprising that PayPal, which is no slouch, is betting that a big chunk of its future success could also be fuelled in part by third party developers. At its PayPal Innovate X 2009 conference in San Francisco yesterday, the internet's dominant payment service announced its much-awaited PayPal X platform that aims to put the power of PayPal's payment platform and infrastructure in the hands of these developers.[6] Paypal is looking ever more likely to be eBay's saviour. Unlike Skype, Stumbleupon and others, Paypal is one of the only acquisitions the cash-drunk eBay made that actually dovetailed with its core business; the cash it's generating is now accelerating eBay's revenues even while the auctions business struggles to grow.'' Developers do have various beefs with Paypal in its current form, from seller protection to simplicity of use for customers. Paypal X is presumably designed to iron these out, and carry on growing eBay's revenues - we'll find out when it gets announced later today in San Francisco. It comes as Amazon is expanding its payment platform, with PayPhrase. It's a simple text field that you enter a special phrase into, something teeth-grindingly "funky" like "feisty mango", rather than your email and password; along with a four-digit PIN it links to a set of specified billing and shipping info, and you can set up different phrases for different addresses, credit cards etc. The WSJ reports on some of the suggested phrases generated by Amazon ("Ingrained Abhorrance", anyone?), while the Business Insider notes that the web stores currently partnered with Amazon for the scheme aren't exactly chasing Paypal's numbers.[27]
For transactions under $10, PayPal's charges a 5% fee, plus 5 cents. EBay made the announcements Tuesday at its first developer conference, PayPal X Innovate 2009 in San Francisco.[25] Super Rewards will launch the virtual currency platform enhancements at PayPal's first dedicated developer conference, PayPal X Innovate 2009 on November 3-4, 2009 in San Francisco.[14] Ahead of the public launch of PayPal X at Innovate 2009 in San Francisco, more than 25 Australians joined the thousand-plus developers globally who registered for the PayPal X limited beta program to receive access to the initial version of Adaptive Payments. '''This is an exciting time for Australian developers that want to help shape the future of payments, and take e-commerce in Australia to the next level,''' said Spiro Rokos, Senior Manager, Developer Network at PayPal Australia.[21] More than 25 Australians joined the thousand-plus developers globally who registered for the PayPal X limited beta program to receive access to the initial version of Adaptive Payments. They include Steven Cooper from Katmatcreations, Stu Andrews from Code Biscuit and Keith Mason from ACP Magazines, all of whom won a trip to the event. Interview: PayPal's developer network senior director, Naveed Anwar, and VP, platform and emerging technologies, Osama Bedier Senior Manager, Developer Network at PayPal Australia, Spiro Rokos, said developers had an opportunity to shape e-commerce in Australia.[28]
Part of the PayPal X platform, the Adaptive Payments API is a set of building blocks that gives developers the tools to create highly customized payment services.[1] The competition will challenge the Australian developer community to create the most innovative payment application using Adaptive Payments, the first PayPal X API, at an on-site developer '''code and build''' event. The winner will receive a substantial cash prize to help them commercialise their application.[21] The Adaptive Payments API is part of the PayPal X network. According to PayPal, the system is also compatible with mobile applications, which will make it easier for customers to make purchases with their mobile devices. PlaySpan provides global payment solutions via its subsidiary PayByCash with 85 payment methods in 180 countries.[29] SAN FRANCISCO--( EON: Enhanced Online News )--PlaySpan, the leader in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, is one of the first to enable customers to make PayPal purchases directly inside the Social Networks using PayPal'''s new Adaptive Payments APIs.[1] U.S. digital micro-transactions and payments services provider PlaySpan has selected PayPal's Adaptive Payments APIs to enable consumers to make online purchases from inside social networks.[29]
"Now, thanks to the PayPal's Adaptive Payments APIs, we are able to provide a better way for consumers to engage in online games, and developers to get paid."[14]
PayPal's APIs, of course, are all related to transactions in which money changes hands. That, in theory, should make it easier for developers who create useful applications to capitalize on them financially. If PayPal has its way, developers will now make PayPal a truly ubiquitous part of the online (and mobile) payment experience, even if consumers don't even know that they're using PayPal.[6] Developers can build applications for "parallel payments", enabling a sender to make a payment to multiple receivers, and "chained payments" that will enable a sender to make a single payment to a "primary receiver", who can then keep a part of it and send the rest to "secondary receivers". The firm has also added new APIs for currency conversion and a "pay anyone" feature that lets financial and other institutions enable customers to send money when logged in to their bank accounts without needing a PayPal account. FIS has announced plans to embed the feature within its online bill payment application for banks.[7] While payment approval happens online, the actual money movement can occur offline at different intervals, and through multiple devices that are not necessarily Internet-connected at the time. A beta Adaptive Accounts API lets developers create PayPal accounts for their customers from within their applications.[7]
The expanded functionality will help PayPal to compete against similar online payment services from Amazon and Google. The new PayPal APIs allow developers to engage customers directly within their own applications rather than forcing them to port users off to the actual PayPal site.[16] In the first half of next year, the company plans to release a mobile payment software development kit, which will initially support Apple's iPhone. PayPal launches its expanded service as the company faces increasing competition from some of the biggest names on the Web. Amazon launched its online payment platform last year for third-party merchants, and Google recently expanded its Checkout payment service as a means to pay for applications purchased on the Android Market, an online store for buying apps for smartphones that use the Google operating system.[25] The APIs, technical documentation, sample applications and more are available at PayPal's X.com web site. PayPal's move to open its platform has been under way for some time, and it represents an important shift in the company's strategy. It may usher in new breeds of payment-centric applications, including ones focused on microtransactions and mobile payments.[24] PayPal has officially launched its new platform for third party developers, making it easier to integrate the payment system with other Web sites and applications.[7]
The more I read about the new APIs, the more excited I get about the opportunity and we'''re currently looking at developing a new site using Adaptive Payments.''' '''By opening up its payments platform, PayPal is providing web developers with opportunities they never had before.[21] PayPal developers and users now have access to a slew of new APIs, ranging from an extended version of the Adaptive Payments API that PayPal made available in July, to an Adaptive Accounts API designed to make it easier for people to sign up for accounts.[24] Developers can build applications including pre-approvals, currency conversions, and pay anyone, chained payments and parallel payments. PayPal is also launching Adaptive Accounts, another API that lets developers develop applications that let users just enter their PayPal username and password.[5]
The recent explosion in third-party applications and games for social media sites like Facebook has created a huge demand for smart, fast, and effective payment systems that can be implemented seamlessly into said applications. Now, PayPal has decided to kick off its own payments system specifically for PayPal users. The eBay-owned company announced at PayPal X Innovate 2009 on Tuesday the launch of an open payments system called PayPal X, which allows users to make payments through their PayPal account all while inside of an application.[30] One firm to tap the PayPal X platform is start-up called Payvment, which has launched an e-commerce application for Facebook. Another outfit, PlaySpan has developed an in-app system to let users buy digital goods directly in online games. Another innovation comes from ShopSavvy, which will enable users of its mobile-based e-commerce price comparison service to make payments direct from the rankings without visiting the e-commerce store directly.[7] Building PayPal X into expensure.com spares users the "pain" of having to navigate from the Website to take care of money exchanges and lets the service track that payments were made, according to McPhee. "They are using PayPal X to improve the way consumers pay for medical bills and doctor visits, making the everyday lives of consumers easier," said PayPal platform vice president Osama Bedier.[31] MedPayOnline.com was among the firms who got to use the open platform early. They have developed a system that would allow patients to pay doctors through PayPal. "They are using PayPal X to improve the way consumers pay for medical bills and doctor visits, making the everyday lives of consumers easier," said PayPal platform vice president Osama Bedier.[19]
PayPal also announced that it has added five new currencies and now supports payments in a total of 24 currencies including the U.S. Dollar, Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Hong Kong Dollar, Singapore Dollar, Taiwan New Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Euro, Swiss Franc, Czech Koruna, Swedish Krona, Danish Krone, Norwegian Krone, Hungarian Forint, Mexican Peso, Philippine Peso, Malaysian Ringgit, Chinese RMB, Israeli New Shekel, Pounds Sterling, Brazilian Real, Polish Zloty, Thai Baht and Japanese Yen. "The addition of these new currencies makes it even easier to use PayPal around the world," said Scott Thompson, PayPal's president. "Consumers have more choice in how they pay, merchants can conduct business in more markets around the world, and developers can now create multi-currency applications built on PayPal X."[26] John Donahoe, CEO of EBay.com, said the new system will promote the emergence of a new wave of innovation in the online payments industry, which aimed at "before someone else beat us to take the initiative first." The new launched system is called PayPal X, which allows users to use other software such as games at the same time use the PayPal shopping.[23] Most importantly, millions and millions of consumers and merchants worldwide will benefit." The benefit that the PayPal X system spells for the users is that they would be able to make purchases from within an application, like an online game; thereby doing away with the current requirement of having to open a new window or steering away from the game to make purchases using PayPal.[10] Prior to the initiative, customers who wanted to make a PayPal purchase had to open up a new window or navigate away from the social networking websites. Now, they will be able to initiate transactions without leaving the games and social network applications by establishing a PIN with PayPal that they can then enter directly when using PlaySpan's payment products. This functionality will be made available on PlaySpan's Spare Change payment service network, which allows for microtransactions for over 500 third-party applications on Facebook.[29] Consumers will thus be able to make faster and easier transactions. PayPal will give the users a PIN code they can use to authenticate their purchases while still inside a game. PlaySpan's Spare Change payment network will be the first product to use this service.[2]
A couple years ago PayPal introduced the Website Payments Pro program aimed at providing small and medium businesses (SMB) with a platform for conducting secure online transactions. The new PayPal X API's provide an even more integral and seamless opportunity for SMB's to leverage PayPal for both incoming and outgoing financial transactions. [16] PayPal, which reported strong earnings recently, is hoping to engage developers in producing applications on top of PayPal's newly released API. We reported on parts of the open platform here and here. Taking the stage this morning for the keynote address is PayPal's senior director of PayPal's developer network, Naveed Anwar. He says that PayPal X, the new platform, is officially open.[5] First announced back in July, PayPal X features completely open APIs, meaning application developers have free reign to customize the platform before actual implementing it.[30]
PayPal used its inaugural PayPal X Innovate 2009 conference in San Francisco to officially announce the PayPal X program to release APIs allowing developers to integrate PayPal seamlessly into third-party applications.[16] PayPal is opening up substantial parts of its global transactional engine, extending the open platform dubbed "PayPal X," company executives announced this morning at PayPal's X Innovate 2009 developer conference in San Francisco.[24] After waiting for two months for PayPal to release its much-anticipated platform, the day has finally arrived for PayPal X. ReadWriteWeb first covered the company's announcement in late July and today, at San Francisco's Concourse Exhibition Center, developers and press people waited with bated breath to see what was earlier described as a "platform as ubiquitous as the electrical outlet."[32] The PayPal X platform was unveiled at the firm's inaugural developers conference in San Francisco after several months of testing with over a thousand outfits.[7]
The company owned by online auction powerhouse eBay marked the occasion with an inaugural PayPal X Innovate conference in San Francisco.[31] "Bottom line: Working together, we will drive the next wave of payment innovation," eBay chief executive John Donahoe said at the PayPal X Innovate 2009 seminar in San Francisco.[33] Just last week, the launch of PayPhrase signaled Amazon's foray into simplifying the payment process by removing the need for users to input credit card information. In light of these recent innovations from PayPal's competitors, eBay CEO John Donahoe hopes that that PayPal X will "disrupt ourselves before others disrupt us," exemplifying the company's desire to evolve with changing Web environments.[30]
For instance, an iPhone app could let consumers order a pizza and pay for it with PayPal. PayPal has kept its big lead in online payments largely because people find it convenient, and because it's hard to build a competing system. Shoppers and merchants both need to be using an online payment system for it to have any value. Every state and country has its own rules for e-commerce. PayPal has managed to navigate these waters — it accepts payment in 24 currencies — and analysts don't yet see Checkout By Amazon or Google Checkout as much of a threat. John Donahoe, eBay's CEO, has said he expects PayPal to surpass the marketplaces business in revenue simply because PayPal targets all of e-commerce while eBay is one of many online sales sites. "PayPal can go well beyond that in the next three to five years," he said in an interview this week.[34] PayPal's latest plans are part of EBay's overall strategy of driving more revenue through expansion of the online payment service in e-commerce and mobile applications and in making non-retail payments. Blue Cross of Northeast Pennsylvania, the University of Louisville School of Medicine, and a range of large and small healthcare providers are using mobile apps to improve care and help patients manage their health.[25]
In an endeavor to accelerate the adoption of its core payment platform, eBay Tuesday launched a new technology for its PayPal division, essentially to facilitate the incorporation of the online payments system into the applications of third-party software developers.[10] Following through with its announcement last month, PayPal has opened its platform to developers in hopes of reaping new ways to use the online payment service.[19]
PayPal today opens its doors to third-party software developers to use its online payments technology in everything from an application on a social network to a web-connected television set.[35]
IPhone and iPod Touch owners have downloaded more than 2 billion applications since the App Store opened in July 2008. The chief executive of Infosys, a leading Indian outsourcing firm, says that technology is making his employees more efficient -- which ends up costing some of them their jobs. PayPal officially opened its platform to developers on Tuesday and start-ups are quickly coming up with new ways to let people pay online.[20] Using the new technology, developers can now also let buyers send money to multiple people with one payment. This could be useful on sites like eBay and Etsy, where a shopper might make purchases from several people at once, or for a company using PayPal for payroll. A start-up called Payvment is using PayPal to let shoppers move from one virtual store to the next, add items to their carts at each stop and check out once.[20] Developers can build person-to-person (P2P) solutions or business-to-business (B2B) payment applications on mobile phones or social networking sites. They can take a cut or distribute funds from PayPal payments as they happen. They can also enable buyers to send money to several people in one payment. This would come in handy for buyers who purchase multiple items from different sellers.[26]
When a customer makes a payment in the Java Store Beta, the application owner also gets paid at the time of the purchase. The developer immediately receives the revenue and knows exactly how many people have purchased their application. Microsoft Azure is also integrating PayPal's new API in its offerings.[5]
'''By opening up our platform, we hope to facilitate innovation in payments by enabling local developers to create new payment solutions for goods and services beyond traditional e-commerce. It'''s also an opportunity for developers to monetise applications they'''ve built on the back of PayPal'''s open platform.''' Got more on this story? Email Computerworld or follow @computerworldau on Twitter and let us know.[28] S1's service, though similar, will be delivered via mobile phones. Another company exploiting PayPal's new platform is Dallas-based Big In Japan, whose ShopSavvy comparison-shopping application for mobile phones is using an API to let users pay for products on the spot through PayPal.[4] The conference floor was dotted with developers already showcasing new applications built on top of PayPal. That included Payvment, a company that has used the tools to create a platform that allows customers to shop across several e-commerce sites and check out in one place. It automatically and simultaneously sends the right amount of money to each of the stores. "It's more sales for them," said Christian Taylor, CEO of the Los Angeles company, "and the consumer can shop how they're used to shopping."[33] PayPal reduced the fee for paying for services out of a bank or PayPal account to either 50 cents or 0.75 percent. Stu Andrews, a developer from Sydney, Australia, is taking advantage of this feature to build an application for a real estate company that would let tenants log on to the landlord's Web site to pay rent, something that would have been prohibitively expensive before.[20] Soon, eBay's biggest business will likely be PayPal, the online payments service that has been growing steadily even as the economy has stumbled. EBay has spent much of the past two years trying to improve its faltering marketplace business, hoping to increase buyers' trust and clean up the look of its Web site.[34] E-commerce is only 15 years old, and online payments are only 10 years old," Donahoe said. He also said that "while eBay and PayPal and Skype have all enjoyed enormous success, quite frankly, beyond our business model, we've never been known as particularly innovative.[24]
Currently, the users must open a new window or leave the game before using the PayPal shopping. Over the past one year, including Amazon.com, Facebook.com and Google.com are strengthening or planning to launch its own online payment system. At The beginning of this year, eBay.com has expressed the wish that PayPal will become an important growth engine in the next few years.[23] At the end of the day, you want to take advantage of that." The sold-out conference delivered on Thompson's promise two weeks earlier that "PayPal will be the first global online payment service to open its platform to everyone." The scene featured curtained meeting rooms, bean bag chairs and even classic arcade games such Asteroids, Tetris, and Pac-Man.[31]
Any queries should be directed to the company itself. SYDNEY, 4th November 2009 ''' To mark the launch of its global open payments platform in Australia, PayPal today announced it will host the inaugural PayPal X Australian Developer Competition in February 2010.[21] PayPal's Open X platform looks like a good move toward openness for the company as in-app payments, mobile applications that emphasize payments, microtransactions and other trends change the company's business.''[24] An important element of X is a platform for PayPal Mobile Payment Embedded Toolkit, which used the SDK to integrate PayPal into mobile applications.[3]
Embracing a strategy popularized by Apple, eBay enlisted the aid of outside developers Tuesday in creating applications for PayPal, a move the struggling company hopes will accelerate adoption of the payment platform it.[33] PayPal and eBay executives are wrapping up their keynote presentations today at PayPal Innovate 2009, where they're offering details about how application developers can use the newly-opened PayPal platform. A lot of their rhetoric has emphasized the idea that developers form PayPal's next big set of customers (after consumers and online merchants).[36] SAN FRANCISCO — PayPal has opened its software platform to outside developers in a move designed to unleash a flood of creative uses for the online financial transaction service.[31] Today, people who use PayPal on a third-party application are taken to a separate window to complete the transaction. PayPal will offer special pricing for developers who use its expanded service in applications that are traditionally serviced by cash and checks, such as rent, consulting businesses or payroll.[25]
Part of the goal of opening PayPal to developers is also to expand the types of transactions PayPal is used for to include things like paying rent, or employee payroll. PayPal also has its eye on smart phones and wants to incorporate PayPal payments into mobile applications. Google Checkout is already working on mobile devices, and Nokia is working on its own mobile payment system, Nokia Money.[16]
Users who don't even use PayPal can actually sign up for PayPal within the third-party application and begin making PayPal payments seamlessly from within the third-party application. PayPal wants to make it easier for developers to leverage its payment system, ostensibly making PayPal a sort of de facto currency for the Web.[16] The API will allow developers to write programs that use PayPal for payments, without users having to leave the application.[25]
Now developers can implement a custom API app for cell phones as well as online to collect payments using the Paypal X development tools.[15] They're not just developing some keeping-up-with-the-Joneses iPhone app though - they're letting a whole platform loose to developers, allowing Paypal to get embedded into a wider range of sites and services. Their platform, called Paypal X, is an API that will allow developers to tailor Paypal's infrastructure for their own sites.[27]
Two of the highlighted APIs that executives showed on a slide include Adaptive Payments and Adaptive Accounts. Several beta customers have already been granted access and begun developing on PayPal X, including GreenDot, Cash.io, and Spare Change Inc. Sun also showed off a beta version of its Java Store Beta powered by PayPal X, where customers could try out the app, then drag it to thes desktop and pay via PayPal.[37] Essentially, X is a set of APIs for accessing the core PayPal payment service. Today, the company also added several new APIs to its initial collection, dubbed "Adaptive Payments Services."[13] The new additions include APIs for currency conversion and pre-approved payments. For those who turned up in person for today's conference, the company is opening up a second set of APIs, dubbed "Adaptive Accounts," as a beta. These APIs provide a means of setting up PayPal accounts for those who don't already have them.[13]
"You see the stuff Facebook does and the stuff the community does hand-in-hand." He acknowledges that PayPal.com lacks a Facebookian "news feed," which supposedly spreads apps in no time whatsoever, but he says there are other ways to drive traffic. The larger point is that these apps will dovetail with their existing PayPal accounts. These aren't apps for just anything. They're apps for payment processing. According to Bedier, PayPal could distribute apps via an iPhone-like app store - but he won't let go of the Facebook analogy. "It's the App Store model. We'll create an app store when you can search for what you want," he says. "But it's a combination of the.[17]
Payment of taxes or issuance of payroll checks will incur a flat 50-cent charge. Those fees are down from the typical PayPal rate of 1.9 to 2.9 percent, depending on volume, of the total purchase, plus 30 cents. The series of product demos and announcements, broken up by booming Black Eyed Peas tracks and awkward high fives among executives, were cheered by the receptive crowd of software engineers - especially, in an Oprah-like moment, when the attendees were informed they'd be receiving free netbooks. In many ways, eBay's approach is similar to the one Apple Inc. took with its iPhone App store. Its decision to tap into this collective wisdom of crowds spawned tens of thousands of tools whose sheer variety, creativity - and occasionally, frivolousness - could never have been matched by a single company.[33] PayPal's Developers Conference kicks off on Tuesday, and as I report in tomorrow's Newsflash, the company is opening up its platform to third-party developers to encourage innovation. I asked PayPal's Naveed Anwar what this means, exactly, since it appears to be different from the way eBay opened up its platform (eBay seller sees third-party apps when logged into eBay's Selling Manager software).[38]
Now, PayPal users can purchase products directly from the ShopSavvy application." PayPal also announced that starting in Q2 2010, it will offer pricing for developers building applications in markets that are traditionally served by cash and checks, such as rent, consulting businesses or payroll. PayPal gave away free netbook computers to all attendees and had recruiters on the show floor - it's hiring for all areas: software engineering, architecture, strategy, program management, and it's expanding at all of its U.S. offices, including those in San Jose, Maryland, Phoenix, Austin and Omaha. The excitement of today's PayPal Developers Conference reminds me of the early conferences eBay hosted for its community of users.[11] ShopSavvy, which makes apps for the iPhone and Andoid, which allows users to scan a bar code and then gives you a list of pricing of the items on different e-commerce sites. Now the app is using PayPal's API to let users buy the product they've scanned from a website (without having to go to the e-commerce site) directly from within the app. In it's own Oprah moment, PayPal announced that it was giving away netbooks to everyone in the audience of the conference. Google made a similar move at their developer conference, giving away free Android phones.[5]
I can't do that online". The key with micropayments is to make them a) fast and b) not feel like you're actually paying money; logging into Paypal and using one-click purchasing fills both of those criteria.'' Plus the traction Paypal already has with web users means that many won't even have to bother signing up to a new service - it looks well placed to expand into the micropayment sector, as long as its API isn't a total ballache to work with.[27] '''The new APIs are very dynamic and will provide unlimited ways for third party web applications to interface with PayPal'''s new open platform.[21] The new APIs tie into PayPal'''s so-called Platform X, which it unveiled at the conference.[4]
The company hopes the PayPal X platform will let it reach new markets by embedding the system in a variety of sites that would not previously have used it.[7] From here the open platform should incur few costs for PayPal, Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Shawn Milne said. More than 1,000 entrepreneurs have been testing the system, known as PayPal X. Among them is Michael Ivey, the founder and CEO of Twitpay, a startup that lets people send money over short-messaging site Twitter.[34] We expect the ease of the payment experience to drive higher ARPU,''' said Karl Mehta, Founder & CEO of PlaySpan. '''PlaySpan is already a successful PayPal merchant and we'''re thrilled that they'''ve adopted PayPal X to make it even easier for consumers to buy digital goods,''' said Osama Bedier, PayPal'''s vice president of platform.[1]
The idea is to continue expanding the X platform until, well, it does everything. During his morning keynote, eBay chief John Donahoe said - with a straight face - that he believes PayPal can power "all of ecommerce." We asked Bedier if this was a really bad idea - i.e. building a monoculture around the world's payment processing - and though he didn't quite see what our objection was, he did acknowledge that the company's dream is, shall we say, not even close to reality.[17] The conference was a big deal for PayPal. EBay's payments business is driving the company's growth, and John Donahoe, eBay's chief executive, reiterated that PayPal would soon be a bigger business than eBay's marketplaces.[20] PayPal, facing increasing competition from the likes of Amazon and Google, is hoping to boost business by tapping the potential of third parties in the same way Facebook and Apple have. Earlier this year, John Donahoe, president and CEO of parent company eBay, said he wants to double PayPal revenue within three years and claimed the unit has the potential to become bigger than eBay Marketplaces because it targets all of e-commerce.[7] The company projects PayPal's revenue will be between $4 billion and $5 billion in 2011. EBay's forecast for the marketplaces business, which includes the main eBay.com Web site and other sites such as Shopping.com, calls for $5 billion to $7 billion in revenue that year.[34] While PayPal boasts that more 3 million online retailers accept it for transactions (not counting merchants on eBay who accept PayPal), many vendors offer it alongside services from Google, Amazon and others, to give shoppers as many choices as possible. As PayPal shows up on more Web sites, these rivals could, too.[34] PayPal is an established name in online transactions. It built a reputation for providing a safe and secure means of making payments for things like EBay purchases. It worked so well and got so popular that EBay eventually bought PayPal in 2002.[16] Ebay's Paypal has become a common place application to help in online transaction both through the popular eBay auction website as well as with e-commerce websites as well.[15]
The move should clear the way for new ways to make PayPal online transactions in televisions, touch-screen advertising, computers, mobile devices, and even "smart" appliances. "It is about how we let you do what you want to do the way you want to do it in your life," Thompson said.[31]
PayPal has teamed with S1 Corporation to deliver a mobile cash transfer system and signed Mercantile Bank of Michigan as the first financial customer for the new system, which is expected to go live early next year. The company is also wooing developers who build applications in markets that are traditionally served by cash and cheques, such as rent, consulting businesses or payroll.[7] Today is the first day of PayPal's much-hyped PayPal Innovate X 2009, the payments company's first dedicated developer conference.[5] PayPal X will also have a mobile payment software development kit (SDK) from the first half of next year, initially supporting the iPhone.[7] As eBay's core marketplace continues to leak mojo, Donahoe is banking on PayPal to pick up the slack - and then some. "I believe PayPal will be bigger than ebay because PayPal can power all of ecommerce," he said. Once again, he predicted that PayPal revenues will double over the next three years, and he's counting on third-party devs to help him actually make that happen. PayPal first announced the X platform in July, and after a limited beta, it's now open to everyone at X.com, where an PayPal predecessor first set up shop in the late 90s.[13] Donahoe also thinks PayPal can eventually make more money than the marketplaces business, even though PayPal's profit margins are lower. PayPal's opportunities figure to expand with its new move to open its platform to outside software developers.[34] PayPal will also showcase companies in four areas: technology, financial, mobile and devices to give attendees the sense of the breadth in which PayPal can be used beyond ecommerce. eBay CEO John Donahoe, CTO Mark Carges and PayPal President Scott Thompson are set to present at the event, as well as technology publisher Tim O'Reilly and Om Malik, who will moderate a panel of venture capitalists. PayPal is moving its developers community to a new website at X.com.[18] With the new platform, any software developer can embed PayPal's technology in an application.[20] PayPal has been making a big deal about convincing developers to build cool applications using its global payments platform.[12] PayPal has launched it global open payments platform in Australia, with a competition for Australian developers.[28]
A Send Money API that will enable developers to integrate PayPal payment functionality into any platform.[6] Super Rewards integrated the Adaptive Payments APIs across the offer platform, allowing new features that deliver more choices and easier game play for consumers, while delivering another revenue stream to developers.[14] PlaySpan's patent-pending in-game virtual goods commerce and micropayment platform enables game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users, and extend the loyalty of existing users. PlaySpan also offers global payment solutions through its subsidiary PayByCash '' with 85 payment methods in 180 countries.[1]
The games are free, but users can also purchase digital goods - Farmville sells more virtual tractors than John Deere sells real ones. There is a lot of excitement around mobile and social apps, whether it's gaming, socializing, or ecommerce, and PayPal wants to be the payments engine for all of those experiences. I expect some interesting announcements coming out of the PayPal DevCon this week. [38] Naveed said that previously, everything had to be done on PayPal.com, now it can be an inline experience on the developer's website or application. He used the example of PlaySpan's Spare Change application that calls itself a "micro-payments system for social networks." Users can fund their Spare Change account with their credit card, PayPal, bank account or mobile phone. Naveed said PayPal users can add funds to their SpareChange account directly within the application experience, without having to go to the PayPal website.[38]
PayPal also introduced Adaptive Accounts, an API that allows developers to automate the creation of PayPal accounts within applications.[4] Accounts Adaptive API is offered by PayPal in beta. The interface allows developers integrating their own applications for the establishment of a mechanism for PayPal account.[3]
As of the end of September, 78 million people had active PayPal accounts, up from 65 million a year ago. To try to maintain its advantage, this week PayPal opened its system to third-party developers, which will mean PayPal can be built in to all sorts of applications.[34]
Tables were laden with snacks ranging from energy bars to gourmet jelly beans and Twinkies. Companies that had gotten head starts on building PayPal X services into their websites showed off their creations. Andrew McPhee and Ebony Charlton traveled to the gathering from London, where they launched technology startup expensure.com ]] expensure.com as a service to help friends or flat mates divvy up shared expenses. The Web developers were sharing a flat when they devised the application.[31] The PayPal X service is designed to make it easier for developers to integrate PayPal into third-party applications.[25]
In-application payments, which Apple is now allowing in iPhone apps, are also a focus for the PayPal X platform.[24] Storenvy uses PayPal X to let shoppers to use one shopping cart and make one payment transaction, even when buying from multiple stores.[31] At the unveiling of the PayPal X system at the conference, Donahoe said: "Bottom line: Working together, we will drive the next wave of payment innovation.[10] PayPal formally launched the new initiative at the PayPal X Innovate conference, also held in San Francisco.[19] With the unveiling of the APIs, which took place in San Francisco at the e-commerce processor'''s first developers''' conference in its 11-year history, developers will be able to more readily introduce applications that could, for example, convert rewards points into cash, process business-to-business payments, allow price-comparison engines to process payments, and let consumers pay each other through online-banking sites.[4] "Working together, we will unleash the next wave of payments innovation," eBay chief John Donahoe told the company's inaugural developer conference in San Francisco, California.[13] "Bottom line: Working together, we will drive the next wave of payment innovation," the San Francisco Chronicle quoted eBay chief executive John Donahoe.[19]
As TechCrunch detailed, John Donahoe, eBay'''s CEO, is of the opinion that online payments should make up more than 20% of global payments right now. In reality they only account for 5%. If there's any group that can help him get to that 20%, it just might be developers, developers, developers.[6]
While processing a number of businesses, epathchina.com online payment needs to get help from PayPal. Having good wishes to eBay.com good development, simultaneously, epathchina.com hopes that the new system will help its business a lot.[23] PayPal is Australia'''s preferred way to pay online when compared to other online payment systems and individual credit card brands according to Nielsen Online Consumer Report 2H 2008.[21] An application could be as simple as ordering and then paying for a pizza with one click on a cellphone. Or it could be as intricate as a way for corporate accounting departments to pay vendors without mailing checks. Osama Bedier, the vice president for platform at PayPal, predicted that cash would soon be the payment of choice for only "tooth fairies, drug dealers and senators paying their household staff."[20] Said eBay CEO John Donohoe, "We believe that consumer behavior will change in the next three years, more than in the last ten. Think about it this way: this year: the eBay iPhone app will do $500 million dollars in volume on a device that didn't exist two years ago, on an application that didn't exist one year ago." Said Osama Bedier, PayPal's VP of Product Development, "We'll do 70 billion in sales this year, but there's $30 trillion dollars being spent globally. We need to tap into this.[32] PayPal processed $70bn in payments last year, but as Bedier says, that's pocket change compared to the $30 trillion in total spending from the world's consumers. Even as the company takes it first steps towards this dream, the question on everyone's lips is "Security?" PayPal's answer is almost as simple as the question.[17] According to Osama Bedie, vice president of platforms for PayPal, PayPal will help facilitate $70 billion worth of electronic transactions this year, a sizeable amount, but a drop in the bucket compared to the $30 trillion or so that consumers spend globally. PayPal's goal is to try and grab a larger piece of that pie, by making it easier to build in those PayPal links.[37] Vice President of PayPal platforms, Osama Bedier, also takes the stage, says that PayPal will complete transactions valuing $70 billion dollars, which is pocket change compared to the $30 trillion that consumers spend globally.[5]
Speaking to Digital Transactions News, Osama Bedier, vice president for the PayPal platform and product development, said the company hasn'''t fixed a date yet for the new pricing to take effect. He said whether the flat 50-cent or 0.75% fee applies will largely depend on risk. '''How do we do it without losing our shirt?''' he said.[4] Osama Bedier, VP, platform, PayPal, says: "Mobile transactions have been notoriously tough to monetize.[7]
The API will be useful in cases where customers aren'''t current PayPal users, Bedier told Digital Transactions News. '''It removes a large part of the friction''' in enrolling users, Bedier said.[4] Using the new APIs, I can put my imagination to work to create solutions that allow people to transact money across the world, and leverage the enormous trust in PayPal'''s brand.'''[21] Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Dean, do you own stock in Playspan? This is not a partnership, its Playspan using PayPal's new open API something anyone can and many will do now that it is out.[2] To get the crowd as excited as PayPal's executives were, there were free netbooks for all registered attendees, white-clad violinists to serenade people upon entry and roaming candy carts. In the past, when someone wanted to use PayPal to check out, they generally had to open a new window and enter their PayPal log-in information. PayPal has missed out on a lot of the virtual goods business, which has instead gone to start-ups like Zong that let people enter their cellphone number and avoid interrupting a virtual game.[20]
'''PayPal's new open platform brings unprecedented power and flexibility, and opens up a whole new awesome world of possibilities for developers.[21] "We live in a time when online shopping should feel more like shopping in a real store." PayPal is following a hot Web 2.0 trend started by Facebook, which became a star after opening its software platform to allow outside developers to make fun, hip, or functional mini-applications for the social networking website.[31] Then of course there's Facebook's nascent attempt at internet domination, with Facebook Connect and Facebook Credits. Currently accepted by basically no-one, the credits are getting talked up today in the WSJ by interactive gaming developers Playfish - because they act as virtual currency, cross-border payment problems are solved. If you're a developer wanting to start your own payment platform, think on - it's not looking like there's going to be much more market room outside of these three players. Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.[27] Acquired by PlaySpan in April 2009, Spare Change is the first and leading payments platform designed specifically for social networks. Featured on over 700 applications, across Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, Spare Change empowers developers to successfully monetize their applications through micro payments.[1] The product enables applications and online games to turn virtual currencies into real dollars by offering users an opportunity to earn extra points or virtual dollars by participating in surveys, trials and online purchases. This turnkey solution delivers highly-targeted offers to millions of local and international social network users across multiple platforms.[14] PlaySpan's virtual goods platforms are used in more than 1,000 online games, virtual worlds and social networks. The PlaySpan-PayPal teamup makes sense. Keeping users inside an app, even when they pay for something, is becoming quite fashionable, as our story on Obopay noted last week.[2]
PayPal bills itself as a shopper's online wallet. Users set up accounts and link them to bank accounts and credit cards, making it easy to transfer cash into the account. Then users can make payments through PayPal using either their cash balances or the underlying credit card. [34] PayPal is the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online. The service allows members to send money without sharing financial information, with the flexibility to pay using their account balances, bank accounts, or credit cards.[21] PayPal has also been missing out on microtransactions, the small sums paid for a product online, like a single article or a day-long subscription to an online publication. People did not want to log in to their PayPal accounts to pay such small amounts of money.[20] A Pay Anyone API that will allow financial institutions to give their customers the ability to send money to others, even if they don't have a PayPal account.[6]
There will be a flat fee of 50 cents for service transactions funded by a bank account or PayPal account balance, with a three-day settlement period, or a 0.75% fee for service transactions funded by a bank account or PayPal account balance, with instant settlement.[26]
Rather than adopt PayPal (and the fees that come with it) for online payment, Amazon and Google have developed homegrown online payment systems. Google and Amazon are both online gorillas, and Amazon is a huge online retail site, so the competition is a threat to PayPal.[16] After dominating the online payments market for years, PayPal has seen increased competition from online retail giant Amazon and even Google.[30]
When Twitpay started last year it used Amazon's payments service to transfer funds. PayPal's huge user base clinched the decision to make the change, he said.[34] I've had more sales then Fred, and I've lost twice to paypal aided & abetted theft. Those 2 were both preventable if only Paypal had any customer service. I never ever had any kind of fraud issues in 25 years mail order until I was forced to accept this unsafe payment method.[38]
Payvment lets anyone set up e-commerce retail stores on Facebook, using PayPal's Adaptive Payments API.[5] Prior to releasing the Adaptive Payments API, it was difficult to process donations to multiple recipients at the same time due to the complexities of handling micropayments. The parallel payments functionality offered within Adaptive Payments eliminates many of the payment headaches in this area.'''[21]
Currently, the X platform offers a set of APIs known as "Adaptive Payments," providing various means of processing, yes, payments on the fly. In addition to a core "Send Money" API, this inaugural suite includes APIs for parallel payments, chained payments, pre-approved payments, currency conversion, and more.[17]
The company first announced the PayPal X platform last month during the Web 2.0 Summit.[25] Hi Ron, PlaySpan is an early adopter of the new PayPal X platform released today, and PlaySpan was featured as one of the five partners highlighted in the Keynote video.[2] Silicon Valley-based startup PlaySpan is already experimenting with PayPal X via a virtual goods marketplace and micropayment platform.[30]
PayPal also showed off mobile versions of the PayPal X technology, including a sample pizza app for the iPhone.[37]
PayPal demonstrated a mobile payment toolkit to embed payments directly into mobile applications - starting with iPhone.[11] "Over the last two years, we've really built out all of our security models and risk models to accommodate the type of innovation that's going to happen on top of our platform," said Scott Thompson, president of PayPal. It is technically feasible to provide access to these application interfaces without making sensitive data within the system accessible, said Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, a computer security training organization. He added that programming errors are always a possibility. "I can't guarantee there won't be a problem," he said.[33] PayPal hopes the move will see it double in size over the next two years, drawing on the same community of developers that have created hundreds of thousands of applications for Apple's iPhone and Facebook in recent years.[35] The competition will take place in February 2010 at PayPal'''s developer '''code and build''' event. The winner will receive a substantial cash prize to help them commercialise their application.[28]
In the meantime, PayPal has thrived as more consumers and merchants use it to send money online. Its growth is expected to continue in spite of competition from Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc., which have services that online retailers sometimes offer alongside PayPal.[34] The San Jose online marketplace announced at a conference a set of tools necessary to build products on top of the popular service, enabling entrepreneurs and businesses to dream up their own uses and tap into the $2,000 already moving through PayPal every second.[33]
The pricing is expected to be considerably more attractive for services than PayPal'''s standard fees, which range from 1.9% plus 30 cents to 2.9% plus 30 cents. It drew loud applause when announced Tuesday morning at the developers''' conference, dubbed PayPal Innovate 2009.[4] PayPal doesn't provide the service as a charity though. There are fees involved and some users have taken issue with those fees (including recently adding fees without notice for services that were previously free).[16]
No longer will users have to be forwarded to a PayPal site and sign-in to verify payments.[30] Previously, any customer wishing to make a PayPal purchase would need to open up a new window or navigate away from the social networking sites in order to make a PayPal purchase.[1] X.com is the original site name of PayPal way before it was purchased by eBay. In those days they paid everyone $5.00 for every referral. It was great.[38] PayPal, which began in 1998 as a way for people to beam cash from one Palm Pilot to another, was bought by eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002 and has been a steady performer.[34]
PayPal moves over $2200 dollars per second. John Donahoe, eBay's CEO, takes the stage next. He says that this is an important marking point in the company's history.[5] If the company changes it's name to PayPal, and the focus changes to PayPal, then fly the warning flags, PayPal is in trouble. If the inept neophyte CEO changes his focus from eBay to PayPal, then PayPal is surely headed for some destructive innovation of it's own. Before any name change, before any change in focus, the imperative thing is that John Donahoe is held accountable for the failures his leadership has brought on eBay's marketplace. Unless John Donahoe is thrown his golden parachute along with the rest of his hand picked team of yes men & women, changing the name will make eBay the red headed bastard step child of the family. That said, let me apologize to red headed bastard step children everywhere.[11]
The company has been led previously since March 2009 by an acting managing director, Dinuke Ranasinghe, who has now moved into a regional role in Singapore. Before he shifted to the company's Australian division, Feller was managing director for eBay Germany. Between 2004 and 2008, the executive was managing director of PayPal's German, Austrian and Swiss divisions, geographies he launched the payments company into.[39] Diversify as quick as possible from eBay is you want to survive. Moneybookers is the next PayPal, remember it's best to offer as many PAYMENT OPTIONS as you can.[11] Without eBay, Paypal would be just another payment system. That'''s why they can'''t separate the two companies; eBay gives validity to the Paypal name.[11]
From there an email immediately notifies the receiver of the payment, which is delivered in real-time over PayPal's network.[7] Naveed Anwar, senior director of the PayPal developer network, put it a bit differently. "Let's get this party started," he bellowed - fists clinched.[13] More than 1,000 developers tried the platform during the beta testing period, PayPal says.[12] The "X factor," as PayPal president Scott Thompson, was the developer community.[37] More openness may also be a good answer to increasing competition from Google Checkout, Checkout from Amazon, and transactions on Facebook. It remains to be seen how open PayPal will really be with Open X, though.[24] The paypal brand has been going the way of the ebay brand for some time now. The 'paypal' holds on ebay transactions have only accelerated this trend.[11]
I think the desire to get involved with gaming and social media commerce is interesting, but I think they are coming way too late to this party. This would have been an innovative decision three years ago. Multiplayer games like Second Life and World of Warcraft generated innovative and interesting types of barter, trade and commerce, but this has been going on for a while now. I think paypal has already missed the boat on this one.[38] PayPal should at least spend one year FIXING their constant error prone platform and bring their policies into compliance with banking laws in the various countries in which they operate.[38] Paypal themselves are highlighting the potential for micropayments that the platform might allow - Osama Bedier, the vice president of platform, told the FT : "I can pay 10 cents for something in real life.[27] Paypal acts in a criminal fashion. They do not follow the rule of the law & need regulation ASAP. Anyone throwing in with them should Google Paypalsucks first, or just put in such phrases as Paypal employee fraud, paypal theft, how to get something free on ebay with paypal, and then post how wonderful Pay NOT MY pal is.[38] No. They've become so like ebay now that they could care less whether existing functionalities function properly or not. Like ebafia, they thumb their growing nose at the rule of law. PayPal MUST BE REQUIRED to operate in this country under banking regulations because they've far transcended being a money facilitator or whatever fiction they call themselves.[38]
I would have to agree with the posters on an earlier thread - that Paypal needs to be regulated like a bank and they should follow banking regulations with government oversight. IMO, it cannot continue to operate the way that it does currently - seemingly arbitrarily deciding when to give people access to their own money and when to deny access.[11] Legitimate complaints that can be documented are taken very seriously and acted upon. If paypal is not licensed in your state contact your state representative and ask that paypal be required to be licensed as a money transmitter or laws be introduced to offer consumer protection against the way their money is handled. Much is swept under the rug to avoid any negative impact to their corporate image.[38]
Payvment, a shopping cart web service that we wrote about here, is using PayPal's API on Facebook. [5] "I am delighted to be joining the Australian team to provide strategic direction at a time when there is great demand for PayPal to help grow online shopping in Australia," said Feller. He noted his main priority was to continue to provide PayPal's more than five million local customers and 18,000 merchant customers with services.[39] "I believe that PayPal can be bigger than eBay because PayPal is all about online commerce," Donahoe said.[37] Donahoe admits that eBay was not know as the a bed of innovation but saw the opportunity in PayPal. Marc Andreessen has been a huge part of technology playing a growing role at eBay, says Donahoe.[5] I'm putting technology people in charge." He singled out Thompson's appointment as president of PayPal, and noted that he recruited Marc Andreessen to eBay's board for the same reason.[24] PayPal should be bigger than eBay, because auction sites are only one place that people shop.[5] Unlike what happens with a credit or debit card online, PayPal doesn't share your financial information with merchants. That brings peace of mind to people who might otherwise worry about shopping at a site they've never heard of.[34] The PayPal site gets about 30 million visitors a month, according to Bedier. "It's where people keep their money," he tells The Reg. "They like to go and look at it."[17]
I am amazed at how many young business people typically ask to be paid via PayPal, even when billing for a non-online service. If and when they all wake up, their profit picture might change.[5] The payments business is the fastest growing part of eBay, outside of Skype, the online calling service that the company is in the process of selling all but a minority stake in.[33] EBay's core marketplace business continues to bring in the bulk of the company's revenue, at $1.4 billion last quarter, but that part of the business has been shrinking in recent quarters. The company is pursuing a wide-ranging turnaround strategy aimed at moving beyond its roots as the online auction pioneer. That business has been in decline for years as consumers increasingly turned to standard, fixed-price retailers online.[33]
During the third quarter, PayPal contributed $688.1 million, or more than 30 percent, of the total revenue, up 15 percent from a year ago.[33]
PayPal, the company expects 2011 revenue could increase to 40-50 billion U.S. dollars. As the peer of eBay.com, epathchina.com (http://www.epathchina.com) expresses its great interest to the new system, as epathchina.com also a member of PayPal.[23] In any case, I stand by my opinion that most sellers have very few problems with PayPal, and that most of the complainers here--almost always the same dozen or two--complain about every aspect of dealing with eBay, every time a new topic arises.[38]
PayPal has been the subject of security breaches and phishing schemes in the past, but the company insists the developer tools don't create additional dangers.[33] Although eBay.com is taking the much-needed change to the core online marketplace'''s operations, but also hope that PayPal will become an important impetus of company developing. PayPal faced increasingly fierce competition from a number of major Internet companies; the same day action launched is based on this background.[23] The process took two years, said PayPal's president, Scott Thompson, largely because of the need to deal with banking regulations while keeping up the company's fraud protections.[34]
The company has also released a limited beta of a second API suite dubbed "Adaptive Accounts" that allows for account creation. "This is a way for you to vet for certain information related to an account," Bedier explains. If you're building a payroll application, he says, these APIs would let you create accounts for users without asking them to set up their own accounts one by one. The beta is available only to those who attended today's conference.[17] As part of the announcement, vice president of platform Osama Bedier said that at some point in the unspecified future, the company would serve up APIs for plugging applications straight into PayPal.com.[17]
The company also demonstrated a mobile payment toolkit to embed payments directly into mobile applications, starting with the iPhone. That is going to open up a tremendous amount of opportunities.[26] Since launching Google Checkout in June 2006, Google has made gradual improvements and added various features to the payment system. Most recently, Android developers have been given the option to use Checkout as the payment method for their mobile applications.[30] A mobile payment software development kit will be unveiled sometime in the first half of 2010, and the developer portal is now available at X.com.[26]
We keep busy payments professionals across the globe up-to-date. Our comprehensive news service covers topics such as online and mobile payments, and much more. We offer many different options allowing you easy access to our daily news coverage, such as emailed headlines, general or specific news feeds, website access, journal subscriptions, or customised solutions.[29] New APIs announced yesterday include currency conversation, payments to non-PayPal users, and pre-approved payments.[12]
During a demo at the conference, one developer showed off ShopSavvy, which allows users to scan a product barcodes at a retail store and find the best prices available online and at local retail stores. "Previously, if a user found the best price at an online retailer, they would have to go to that retailer's Web site to complete the purchase.[11] The APIs will be housed at X.com, a development Web site first registered by eBay in 1999.[37]
By opening up the API, eBay can allow others to drive the technology forward, eBay chief executive John Donahoe said. "Historically we've had gigantic global platforms, and we've done the developmnet work on these technologies," Donahoe said.[37]
PayPal executives didn't describe the APIs in detail, although PayPal's conference covering the technologies is scheduled to last through Wednesday.[37] "The big claim to fame is we made things very easy if you want to pay for things online," PayPal president Scott Thompson told AFP.[31] When one of my vendors suggested that I pay him via PayPal rather than mailing a check, I reminded him that PayPal takes 8% off the top and holds his money for 5 days. "Oh yea, I guess that's true," he replied.[5] Hey Navid, is paypal going to switch the user funding choices here too? Like when you say pay by credit card & they deduct funds from your bank, causing you overdrafts & fees? Scummy thing to do, and not allowed under PP's merchant agreements, but they do it everyday.[38]
The creator of the top app will receive $50,000 in cash and up to $50,000 in waived PayPal fees.[12] Fees also had to be lower than 3 percent for people to use PayPal for things like rent or payroll.[20]
PayPal is also seeing adoption across social networking sites growing 20 percent, month over month.[5] There are more than 78 million active PayPal account in nearly 200 international markets.[5]
The company will be onsite at the event and available to talk to any game developers interested in finding out how the Super Rewards offer management platform can increase user engagement while driving significant revenue to the developer. [14] "You can trust us," the company keeps saying. "We've done this a long time." Bedier declined to provide any details about how the company has enhanced its security model as it opens its payment system to who knows how many developers. "If you say anything publicly, you're potentially giving the bad guys information, so why would you do it?" he tells us. "We've done this really well to date.[17] It's interesting and exciting to see so much attention being paid to developers in the payment space. In a way its amazing how deceptively complicated billing still is.[5] The bottom line message is that working together with developers to unleash the next wave of payments technology.[5]
EBay's future "is being staked on the ability to have 5 million heads do more than what five alone can do," said Edward Kountz, senior analyst with Forrester Research. What it ultimately means for the business itself remains to be seen, however, as it's likely to produce far more duds than breakout apps. "The challenge of it is connecting the right developer to the right application in the right environment," he said.[33] Beginning in the second quarter of next year, eBay will charge a flat fee of 50 cents for service transactions with a three-day settlement period, or a 0.75 percent fee for service transactions with instant settlement.[25] The service charges fees for certain transactions, and in the most recent quarter it reported $688 million in revenue, a 15 percent jump from last year.[34]
Separately, the company said it is lowering the cost of certain transactions in a bid to capture a greater share of payments now being made by checks and cash. [33]
The API will change where and how people can make payments, how recipients get compensated, and more.[1] The initial APIs included the ability to send money, make chained payments, and parallel payments.[12] If you notice an error and go back, PP resets you to funding from bank. If you have money on PP, they won't let you choose CC. If you manage to jump thru the hoops & select CC, they have a very confusingly worded popup appear, which makes it seem as if you are confirming CC payment, but then it resets you to bank acct. They do everything they can to avoid you using a CC payment to save CC fees.[38]
The Ultimate Game Card can be used for payments on 300 multiplayer games and around 700 games on popular social networking sites.[29] The ULTIMATE GAME CARD '' is used by consumers to pay for 300 multiplayer games and around 700 games on popular social networking sites. It is available in about 45,000 retail locations across North America and growing rapidly worldwide.[1]
Super Rewards is the largest provider of monetization solutions for online games and social networks.[14] PlaySpan''' is the leader in monetization solutions for over 1,000 online games, virtual worlds, and social networks.[1]
SAN FRANCISCO — Most people know eBay Inc. for its online marketplace, where deals abound on everything from gadgets to antique furniture. [34] Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com.[12]
The Inside Source, a new online magazine from eBay, publishes stories about fashion and decorating trends while pitching products on eBay. [20] Join Computerworld for a 30 minute live webinar to discuss how cloud computing can protect your organisation and combat threats from inside the network. CW Live speaks with Fotios Kotsiopoulis, HP ProCurve presales consultant, about the rapid uptake of 10 Gigabit Ethernet to accommodate increasing computational and storage density brought on by application growth, widespread use of blade servers and large-scale virtualisation -- and what this new trend in Ethernet standards means for enterprise IT managers.[28] Some companies got the green light earlier than others for the new open development platform. They displayed their new creations on Tuesday.[19]
Amazon previously launched a somewhat similar technology, called PayPhrase, which allows users to enter an identifying passphrase and a PIN at a partner site, and automatically route the purchase to a predetermined credit card and address. Google also launched a technology called "hybrid onboarding,", which will allow users to use their Google username and password as identifying information at partner sites. [37]
SOURCES
1. PlaySpan Launches In-App PayPal Payments Experience at PayPal X Innovate 2009
2. PlaySpan teams up with PayPal to make game payments easier | VentureBeat
3. PayPal has prepared the new APIs » IT - Chuiko | Information Technology News
4. News
5. eBay CEO Still More Bullish On PayPal Than eBay
6. PayPal turns to developers in its quest for world domination | Blog | Econsultancy
7. Finextra: PayPal opens up to third party developers
8. PayPal Woos Developers in Bid to Protect Its Turf - WSJ.com
9. PayPal X To Allow In-App Payments - AppScout
10. EBay launches open payments system for its PayPal platform | TopNews United States
11. PayPal Mania Leads to Talk of eBay Corporate Name Change
12. PayPal woos developers with $150K challenge | VentureBeat
13. PayPal opens 'embed everywhere' APIs to world+dog ''' The Register
14. Super Rewards Launches New Virtual Currency Offer Platform Enhancements
15. Paypal X New way for API Developers to use Online Payment System | Best Syndication
16. PayPal Introduces Open API to Put Payments Into Apps - Business Center - PC World
17. PayPal to embed X apps in self ''' The Register
18. PayPal Opens Platform to Target $30 Trillion Opportunity at DevCon
19. PayPal Opens Platform To Developers - Technology News - redOrbit
20. PayPal Seeks New Ways to Use Its Payment System - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
21. PayPal Australia to launch First PayPal X Developer Competition - Computerworld
22. UPDATE: EBay's PayPal Launches Open Payments System - WSJ.com
23. EBay.com Launched the New Open Payment Platform PayPal X
24. PayPal's (Partially) Open Platform to Usher in New Payment Models Apps
25. PayPal Unveils Plans To Open Payment Service -- PayPal -- InformationWeek
26. PayPal to Take Over Mobile and Social Apps | WebProNews
27. BAD IDEA magazine | PayPal Fights Amazon And Facebook With "Paypal X"
28. PayPal Australia to launch First PayPal X Developer Competition - paypal, PayPal X - Computerworld
29. The Paypers. Insights in payments.
30. VatorNews - PayPal launches open payments system
31. AFP: PayPal courts outside developers
32. PayPal's X: A Platform to Pick Your Pocket
33. PayPal looks for developers' applications
34. The Associated Press: A growing PayPal could soon overshadow parent eBay
35. FT.com / UK - PayPal adopts innovative path to growth
36. PayPal loves developers so much, it's giving them free netbooks | VentureBeat
37. PayPal Opens Payments API with PayPal X - Reviews by PC Magazine
38. Is PayPal Getting into Virtual Currency?
39. PayPal Australia gets new chief - News - Business - ZDNet Australia
GENERATE A MULTI-SOURCE SUMMARY ON ANY SUBJECT
Enter your search query below. WAIT 10-20 sec for the new window to open.
Get more info on PayPal looks for developers' applications by using the iResearch Reporter tool from Power Text Solutions.
 |
|  |
|
