Jumping through payment systems and carrier hoops for mobile users who want to buy apps can be disconcerting at best. PayPal is working on their own solution.
According to a interview with Osama Bedier, vice president of PayPal's Platform Business Unit and Emerging Technologies, by IDG News Service, PayPal will open an app store this year where developers can sell their applications.
"We have a huge emphasis on interacting with developers. They're
our customers, along with consumers and merchants," Bedier said.
"I want developers to think of PayPal first whenever they hear the word
'payments' and I want to know what it will take to get there. We're
willing to do it. We're willing to innovate and experiment on their
behalf and hear their feedback," he said.
Bedier envisions PayPal on smartphones to pay for groceris, gas station, rent and parking meters, he said outside Future of Web Apps (FOWA) conference.
PayPal offers a beta version of its Mobile Payments library that lets developers add payments to iPhone
applications. The library will include other mobile platforms, later.