PayPal has updated their iPhone mobile app which I’ve written about previously here and here.
According to the PayPal Blog post:
It features some great enhancements based on feedback straight from our users and general fixes for an even smoother experience.
The post goes on to say:
Our latest research findings indicated that our customers wanted easier access to their History to increase efficiency on the go. We also learned that ALL of the App’s great features needed to be right up front, where they’re easy to find. We’ve taken this feedback to heart and we think you’ll notice – and really like! – the adjustments we made.
So the updated app now has a screen showing all features in one place for easier access. As noted above, PayPal has also added a very useful transaction history screen which includes support for filtering your transactions so you can find what you’re looking for quickly.
Click here to read the complete post on the PayPal X Developer Network including some particular things you should note if you’re interested in trying out the app.
PayPal X Platform
- Building a POS system with #Android QR codes, and @PayPalX http://bit.ly/pqo67c by @supernifty1 #
- More good @PayPalX tips: "Managing Sales Between eBay and Your Own Website" http://bit.ly/p4HAM0 by Drew Angell #
- Zong should open up a whole lot of new mobile customers for @PayPalX developers http://bit.ly/nLnooG #
- Read all about the new @PayPalX Invoicing APIs, now in beta http://t.co/2us5sR7 #
Wireless and mobility
- Handy: @GoogleDocs viewer now supports ZIP and RAR archives (even nested ones) http://bit.ly/p68YSY #
- Excellent resource for developers as well as designers: "Designing for Android" http://bit.ly/qL1FuV from @smashingmag #
APIs and development
- Free @OReillyMedia webcast on the @OpenStack open source cloud framework http://bit.ly/pVj3XJ #
- Open source project management tools http://bit.ly/oVyvUI via @freelancesw (my favorite of the ones I've tried is Redmine) #
Personal things
- Great tips for growing your business using @Elance http://bit.ly/nv59pJ #
- Another @Elance tip: Creating a great profile http://bit.ly/oEZzDL #
- So my current @Klout score is 42: http://t.co/ZOUvFic Does that make me the answer to life, the universe, and everything? #
- Reasons why I *love* the San Juans: http://bit.ly/rcG2Sy and http://bit.ly/nLzE8D #
Running
- Ran 7.01 miles in 1 hour and 14 mins and 54 secs and felt good. My 3rd run in LunarElite+2 and I'm loving them! http://bit.ly/ne5BBF #
- How to use "pawback" for better striding and distance running form http://bit.ly/rrST7T via @runningtimes (worked well for me today) #
- My training last week: 6 workouts for 21.33 mi and 3825 calories burned http://bit.ly/mTiWGu #
- Ran 3.19 miles in 34 mins and felt alright. Very, very hot 5k. Rain, please?!? http://bit.ly/pSomKF #
- Long run progression and cutback tips for marathon training http://bit.ly/qeOyrS via @runnersworld #
- Ran 6.2 miles in 1 hour and 8 mins and 42 secs and felt good. 10k in the heat. http://bit.ly/nOPiL7 #
- Ran 4.59 miles in 49 mins and felt blah. Nasty hot tempo run. http://bit.ly/nD74gb #
- Looking forward to running the Indian Creek Trail when I'm up in KC http://bit.ly/pa3DR9 (thanks for the recommendation, @Garmin !) #
Today I’d like to write a little bit about PayPal’s Invoicing APIs, currently in beta.
The Invoicing APIs allow you to create and send electronic invoices. Here’s PayPal’s high level description of how the APIs work, excerpted from the Invoicing APIs page on X.com:
To initiate a request for payment, merchants initiate an API call to PayPal. Customers receive the invoice via email and click on an included link to view the invoice on PayPal’s website. Customers who have a PayPal account can log into their PayPal accounts to pay the invoice. Invoices paid using PayPal are usually paid to the merchant’s PayPal account right away. Customers can also pay using a check, debit, or credit card.
The PayPal Invoicing API Developer Guide (click here for PDF) provides an introduction to using the API. The guide details the three API calls currently available to developers via NVP, SOAP, or JSON:
CreateInvoice– used to create and populate the required fields in a new invoice; used in conjunction withSendInvoiceSendInvoice– used after creating an invoice to send it to the payorCreateAndSendInvoice– alternatively, you may use this call to both create and send an invoice in one operation
PayPal illustrates the single operation creating and sending an invoice thusly:
Click here to read the complete post on the PayPal X Developer Network including links to the available SDKs and planned additions to the Invoicing APIs.
This North Face documentary about climbing the spires and arches of the incredibly stark and remote Ennedi desert in Chad is inspirational and beautiful. It gives me the trail running and exploring itch!
The North Face®: Towers of the Ennedi from Camp 4 Collective on Vimeo.
PayPal recently announced that their parent company, eBay, is acquiring Zong (@zong). Once the deal closes, Zong will become a part of PayPal.
Zong provides a mobile payments system that bills consumers via their mobile phone carrier bills. This Zong screencast shows you how the system works (if the YouTube embed below isn’t working for you, click here to go directly to the video).
Zong CEO and founder David Marcus (@davidmarcus) had this to say in his announcement of the acquisition on the Zong blog:
I am so excited by the unique combination of PayPal’s 8 million merchants, brand power, risk management expertise, and financial stability, with Zong’s Carrier DNA, its largest direct carrier payments network, product innovation, and best-in-class carrier billing technology. This industry first is going to allow us to scale what we’ve built over the course of the past 3 years (and then some) in a massive way!
Click here to read the complete post on the PayPal X Developer Network including a discussion of why this acquisition matters for PayPal, PayPal merchants, and PayPal X Platform developers.
PayPal X Platform
- Part 5 of my alternative payments series http://bit.ly/jz8cOK compares @Square and Intuit @GoPayment to @PayPalX http://bit.ly/oDtytf #
- Bitcoin, a guide to the future of currency http://zd.net/nmHJ3u via @ptwobrussell on the @PayPalX DevZone blog http://bit.ly/nOA9Ng #
- Intriguing examination of open data, mobile banking, and the app economy in Kenya http://oreil.ly/nIc9yK via @radar #Android #
- Final article in my Alternative Payments series http://bit.ly/rbH9lc cross-compares the @PayPalX Platform to others (includes feature table) #
- Key takeaways from @PayPalX DevZone alternative payment systems series http://bit.ly/nkA2Xc (includes bit.ly bundle of all six articles) #
- Info on the iOSDevCamp at @PayPal HQ http://bit.ly/okrfiz #
Big data
- Free @OReillyMedia Strata online conference http://bit.ly/ncN7VL examined "personal analytics" aka life-logging #bigdata #
APIs and development
- Seven reasons to use Java again http://oreil.ly/qvMDti by @edd on @radar (of course, many of us never stopped, just added other tools too) #
- A rough guide to JVM languages http://oreil.ly/pohl6r via @radar (all hail the power of bytecode!) #
Personal things
- How to pick good chocolate http://bit.ly/nOPsIn via @runnersworld #
Running
- Ran 6.21 miles in 1 hour and 13 mins and 17 secs and felt good. Very hot 10k. http://bit.ly/nNZXZG #
- My training last week: 6 workouts for 17.22 mi and 2437 calories burned http://bit.ly/mTiWGu #
- Ran 5.5 miles in 58 mins and felt good. Yep, still blazing hot. http://bit.ly/r3MC76 #
- Weighing @higdonmarathon "Novice 2" http://bit.ly/qHNcbb vs "Intermediate 1" http://bit.ly/o62UJX marathon training… http://bit.ly/nKAOON #
- I'm thinking of easing into two-a-days with these guidelines http://bit.ly/pWBxIw from @runnersworld #
- Ran 3.67 miles in 40 mins and felt great. Paces 8:34, 8:37, 8:28, 8:25, 8:23, 8:26, 8:47, 8:36, 8:26, and 8:15. http://bit.ly/p1yQop #
- Ran 4 miles in 42 mins and felt good. When will this heat break? Please don't say "October"! http://bit.ly/qxIYke #
Heads-up to everyone in or near the SF Bay Area this week:
This year’s iOSDevCamp is being held Friday through Sunday, 15-17 July 2011, at PayPal’s San Jose offices. In the words of the organizers:
iOSDevCamp (previously know as iPhoneDevCamp and iPadDevCamp) is an annual not-for-profit gathering to develop applications for iOS, including iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, using both the native SDK and web standards.
If this sounds kind of BarCamp-y to you, that’s because it is. The iOSDevcamp About page goes on to say:
The event was initially inspired by BarCamp, SuperHappyDevHouse, and MacHack, to develop Cocoa Touch and web based applications for iPhone and iPod touch. Out-of-town guests are always welcome. Attendees include iOS developers, web developers, UI designers, entrepreneurs and testers, all working together over the weekend. Development projects include both solo and team efforts. While some attendees wish to work solo during the event, we encourage attendees to team up, based on expertise, to work in ad-hoc project development teams. All attendees should be prepared to work on a development project during the event.
Click to read the complete article on the PayPal X Developer Network including a link to register for the event.
A while back I asked you for input as to which alternative payment systems you’d like to see compared to PayPal. Thanks to some great feedback from community members, I was able to map out and write a six part series.
This series examined the following alternative systems:
- Amazon Flexible Payments Service (FPS)
- Facebook Credits
- Google Checkout (plus a bit of discussion on Google Wallet and Google In-App Payments)
- Dwolla
- Square and Intuit GoPayment mobile card readers (one article discussing both since they are quite similar in many ways)
The final article in the series summarized and cross-compared each of the systems with each other and the PayPal X Platform. It included a table of key features, availability information, pricing, and other details important for developers and merchants considering their payments options. Please note that the table appears clipped in the HTML version in many browsers; to see the full thing, you can view it in the PDF version of the article (click here to access the PDF).
I’ve also created a bit.ly bundle summarizing and linking to all six articles in the series (available here).
If you read the entire series, you will understand the major payment system options available to you and be able to make recommendations on which system(s) would be appropriate for specified sets of payments requirements.
Click here to read the complete post on the PayPal X Developer Network including the key takeaways from the series.
This is the fifth installment of my multi-part series comparing alternative payment systems to the PayPal X Platform and each other. Part one introduced Amazon’s Flexible Payments Service, part two discussed Facebook Credits, part three focused on Google Checkout, and part four examined Dwolla.
This time we’re going to consider two leading mobile card reader options, solutions from Square (@square) and Intuit (via their GoPayment system, @gopayment). We’ll look at what both solutions provide from merchant and consumer perspectives, where to go to learn more about each, and how they compare with the PayPal X Platform and solutions including PayPal’s recently purchased FigCard.
Mobile payment options
The mobile wallet is on fire lately. Though everyone involved in payments seems to agree that paying with mobile phones and tablets is on the rise, they each seem to have their own spin on what solutions will win out in the long run. Before we dive into the specifics of the mobile card reader approach taken by Square and Intuit, let’s do a very quick review of the space so you can see where card readers fit in overall.
As I wrote in a January 2011 blog post on “Credit cards versus the mobile wallet“, credit cards and cash rule the offline payments world for now. Today’s businesses must accept these more traditional methods of payment while they consider and explore additional mobile payment options. But traditional card readers are tied to a given location via landline connections, require dedicated lines, and are simply not amenable to svelte, mobilized businesses.
Square and Intuit understand the opportunity in these problems. They are targeting the sweat spot of merchants that need to accept credit cards in a flexible, handheld, take-em-where-you-got-em way right now. They do this by providing merchants with free card readers that attach to popular mobile phones and tablets. These mobile devices are the brains of the system; payments are processed using on-device apps and transmitted using the wireless data access built into the device itself. Physical location is irrelevant as long as a data connection is available. This gives merchants the flexibility to accept traditional credit card payments wherever and whenever they want for simple to understand fees. More details on Square’s and Intuit’s implementations below.
What other options exist? PayPal is supporting a number of avenues for mobile payments both online (e.g. Mobile Express Checkout, or MEC, for any web browser enabled device and Mobile Payments Libraries native apps for iPhone and Android devices in particular) and off (from old school SMS based payments to Square and Intuit competition from their very smart purchase of FigCard). Since PayPal enables funding of your account via bank transfers and credit cards, you have cash and credit options through their system. And you have other players preparing to launch physical solutions including Google (heavily in the NFC-based mobile wallet camp), Isis (also built on NFC technology), and card.io (another credit card oriented solution; they “scan” card data via image capture rather than a mobile reader).
While it’s still unclear which online and/or NFC-based “wallet” may dominate in the future, it is clear that credit cards aren’t going away anytime soon. So no matter which other mobile payment solutions one considers adopting, most businesses do still need a credit card processing capacity, thus ensuring customers for the likes of Square and Intuit for quite some time to come.
Getting started with Square and Intuit GoPayment
Square has a straightforward homepage that immediately gets to the heart of the matter: Signing up to get a free card reader and starting to accept credit cards couldn’t be simpler.
The Square site also provides videos showing examples of their systems’ use as well as more information on Square’s related Register (turns an iPad into a card processing, receipt sending, and report crunching terminal all rolled into one) and Card Case (billed as “the friendly neighborhood way to pay”, this feature is meant to drive customer loyalty by enabling them to pay with a tab, find local deals, browse current menus and daily specials, and store digital receipts) applications. Square is clearly swinging for the fences when they claim they are for “everyone” (no business is too small or too mobile).
Key Square features:
- Free credit card reader – plugs into audio port on Android, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices
- Transparent pricing – 2.75% per swipe fee for all credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover); 3.5% + $0.15 per keyed in transaction
- Next-day payout – funds are automatically paid out to your bank account daily
You can learn more about Square’s distribution channels and strategy in my related blog post “Who will corner the market on mobile card readers?“.
Similarly Intuit’s GoPayment site is structured around extreme simplicity and low cost.
GoPayment’s features are also clearly designed to make sense for just about anybody interested in accepting credit cards via mobile device:
- Free card reader option – works with Android, iOS, and Blackberry devices (they also offer a combination card reader and receipt printer device for a fee)
- Two tier pricing – 2.70% per swipe and 3.70% for keyed transactions (same set of card accepted as Square above) on the no-monthly-charge “Low-Volume Plan”; 1.70% per swipe, 2.70% per keyed on the $12.95/month “High-Volume Plan”
- 2-3 days for payout – funds paid into your bank account
So both Square and Intuit intend for their mobile payment systems to be easy and (relatively) inexpensive for any medium or large business. And maybe for a lot of small fries like me, too!
Click here to read the complete article on the PayPal X Developer Network including comparisons of Square and Intuit GoPayment to PayPal offerings.
BillDay.com 