As if the city hosting its first World Series in 8 years wasn’t enough, PayPal X Innovate 2010 is in full swing here in downtown San Francisco at the Moscone Center. To be honest, as a die-hard SF Giants fan it is a welcome distraction… Honestly, I have no nails left to bite.
I attended last year’s PayPal X Innovate conference and was thoroughly impressed and am very intrigued to see how they are going top it this year. I plan on live-blogging, taking video and photos over the next 24 hours, but in the meantime here is some actual news to share with you. Pretty exciting stuff too…
Product announcements made at the conference today include:
PayPal for Digital Goods
An online checkout solution designed for digital goods that allows consumers to check out in as little as two clicks without being forced to leave their gaming, video, news, music or any other digital experience mid-session. The solution leverages PayPal’s pricing for micropayments – just 5 cents plus 5 percent of the transaction. Facebook and FT.com are using PayPal to monetize the growing opportunity in digital goods.
PayPal Embedded Payments
An online checkout solution for physical goods without having to leave a merchant’s app or website. Consumers can create a PayPal account, view payments details, choose a shipping address and approve the payment without being redirected to PayPal. FundRazr and PayPal Innovate 2009 alumni developer Payvment are early adopters of this new checkout solution.
PayPal Apps
Will allow developers to embed applications directly on the PayPal website. PayPal Apps will include services such as small business tools, buyer and seller tools for eBay and new enhanced ways for consumers to move money electronically. Bill.com, CreditKarma, Expensify, Freshbooks, Shipwire and Zuora are already building apps into PayPal.com. Developers attending Innovate were given exclusive access to the beta test, and it will be available to a broader audience next year.
PayPal Business Payments
PayPal is introducing PayPal business payments, a fast, secure method for sending and receiving payments for a flat 50 cent fee. The pricing is designed to lower overhead, reduce invoicing costs, and accelerate expense reimbursements for business services such as payroll, disbursement and rental payments. Early partners using PayPal business payments include Bill.com, Expensify, Freshbooks, Harvest, Plastic Jungle, and Zoho, among others.
Mobile
VeriFone announced that it plans to integrate PayPal into its merchant iPhone app and secure credit/debit card reader. PayPal’s Mobile Express Checkout product is now available for merchants, helping them deliver a fast, safe two-click checkout experience on a mobile device. PayPal also unveiled new functionality and enhancements to the Mobile Payments Library, and introduced PayPal for Mobile 3.0, its latest iPhone app with location-based features.
Follow PayPal on Twitter: @PayPal and @PayPalX. Use the hashtag #xinnovate to follow all the chatter coming out of the 2-day conference this week.
Cheers,
RBH
