PayPal everywhere. That could be the slogan of the online payment company’s expanded Global Payments Platform, following an announcement Tuesday of new application programming interfaces (APIs) that make it easier to integrate PayPal into third-party applications. The announcement at the PayPal X Innovate 2009 conference in San Francisco also included a new portal and introductory pricing for developers.
The updated Adaptive Payment APIs expand payment capabilities for multiple recipients and multiple platforms, including mobile devices.
Funds Transferred in Seconds
Osama Bedier, PayPal’s vice president of platform, said the new software development kit for mobile will allow a developer to “just tell us how much you want to get paid and what the payment is for, and the funds will be transferred in seconds, not days or weeks.”
New capabilities in the APIs include currency conversion for global payment applications and a Pay Anyone option, so financial institutions can let customers send money when they are logged into their bank accounts without needing a PayPal account.
Developers can also now create “reusable payment agreements” between buyers and sellers. Payment approval takes place online, but the actual movement of money can take place offline, at various intervals, and through devices that do not need to be online at the time.
The APIs open up PayPal’s payment system to developers. Upgrades also include the ability for developers to create person-to-person or business-to-business solutions, and allow developers to take a percentage of a transaction.
Security and Mobility
With parallel payments, applications can let buyers send money to several recipients at once, which means not only can different items be purchased from different sellers at once, but payroll applications are also possible. A new pricing model to entice developers will begin in the second quarter of next year.
Laura DiDio, an analyst with industry research firm Information Technology Intelligence Corp., said the announcement means…