PayPal X Opens Up Paypal API to Developers

PayPal officially launched PayPal X yesterday. Paypal X is an open API which lets third parties add payment methods to their platforms. The eBay owned company is seeking to expand from their current 70 billion dollars of transactions per year by putting the ability to pay via Paypal into more services and websites. Processing fees will be as low as .75% or 50 cents.

"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", executives said. "Instead, people will be able to sign into PayPal and make purchases, such as virtual weapons, right inside an application such as a game."

Paypal's payment fulfilment system is up against some serious competition. Googles Checkout is now available for use on mobile devices, Nokia is developing Nokia Money, a rival mobile payment platform, Apple and Facebook are looking to enter the space, and Amazon has just unveiled PayPhrase, their own version of an open payment system. It will be interesting to see how developers make use of this technology. Will there be any incentive for them to create Apps for profit, and what will the future of online payment look like?

PayPalX API Software Development Kits can be downloaded from X.com, the projects web site. The domain has been owned by eBay since 1999.