Mobile, social, and local apps are the new black.
You’ve heard these megatrends shouted from the mountaintop. If you want to work on Stuff That Matters, pay attention to what’s going on in the MoSoLo spaces, and their intersections. So let’s suppose you drink the tropical fruit punch flavored sugary beverage and want to dive in, then what?
APIs, my friend. You need to learn about the various API options available to you as you build your MoSoLo apps and services. More specifically, mobile + cloud + communications APIs (mobility), social networking APIs, and location and mapping APIs.
The good news: There are lots of choices available to you. The bad news: There are lots of choices available to you!
Just look at this chart showing the explosion in open Web APIs from a recent ProgrammableWeb article on API growth during 2010:
Click here to read the full post on the PayPal X Developer Network and be sure to take the quick survey below:
We’ve written a lot of late about mobile payment platforms and the mobile wallet. One thing we haven’t written as much about is merchants accepting payments via their mobile phone. Let’s change that.
Intuit recently announced a special offer whereby new merchants can receive a free credit card reader for their smartphone-based GoPayment service. The reader works with a number of popular devices running Android and iOS (including iPhone as well as WiFi connected iPod Touch devices). Blackberry devices are also supported.
In addition to receiving the $200 reader for free, new sign-ups also get their $13 per month service fee waved. Per transaction charges still apply, with processing volume determining the exact fees payable to Intuit. See the press release and web site for details.
Click here to read the rest of the piece on the PayPal X Developer Network.
[This was my third most popular X.com item last year.]
I am currently finishing up an article introducing developers to PayPal X mobile development. Before it publishes, I thought it might be useful to set the stage with a short post on all of PayPal’s mobile options for consumers as well as developers.
PayPal offers consumers mobile access to their services via:
- Text messaging (SMS)
- Mobile web browsers
- Standalone smartphone applications for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry devices
- Whatever services developers build using the PayPal X mobile APIs below
The consumer mobile services let you manage and use your PayPal account. Among other things, you can use the text-based SMS interface, mobile browser access at http://m.paypal.com, or a standalone app on your smartphone to send and request money, check your PayPal account balance, and view your account history. Every operation is password or pin confirmed for security.
On SMS, you send one of several text message keywords to 729725 (PAYPAL). Keywords include BAL or BALANCE to check your balance, SEND and TO to send money to someone with a given mobile number or email address, GET and FROM to request money from a specified person, VOID or X to cancel a pending payment, or HELP for, drum roll please, helpful information from the system. For example, to send ten dollars to a friend whose email is username@example.com, you could send the following SMS text message to 729725:
SEND 10 to username@example.com
The web and native applications provide similar functionality with a few bonus tools to help with things like splitting the check at a group dinner, collecting money from a group of contributors for an event or gift, and setting reminders for one-time or recurring payments. Please see the PayPal Mobile Payments page for screenshots and additional information on the consumer web and native apps.
Developers can in turn use the web or native application APIs to interact with the PayPal system on behalf of their customers and users:
- Mobile Checkout and coming later this year Mobile Express Checkout
- Mobile Payments Library for Android and iOS (iPhone and iPad)
Click here to finish reading the blog post on the PayPal X Developer Network.
[This was my fourth most popular X.com item last year.]
Steven Cooper is building his business, Katmatcreations, using the PayPal X platform.
Steven is a PayPal Certified Developer from Australia who creates merchant and commerce services such as the bulk buying site GoSqueesh.com and social media tools such as CopyTwit.com. Read on to learn how this one man developing dynamo grows his business while pushing at the edges of what’s possible using the power of PayPal.
Click here to read the complete article on the PayPal X Developer Network.
[This was my fifth most popular X.com item last year.]
Adam Feuer (@adamfeuer) is the Director of Engineering for the Grameen Foundation‘s Mifos Initiative. My colleague Matthew Russell recently spoke with Adam about the Grameen Foundation, its goal to end poverty, and software’s place in achieving that goal.
Please click here to listen to the entire unedited conversation or read the condensed and edited interview below.
PayPal X and payments news:
- Coming soon: A new @PayPalX site, preview here http://bit.ly/enpX8l #
- Mobile payments news roundup http://bit.ly/dZbmqj from @paymentsnews #
- Key feature of Google's upcoming NFC-based mobile payment service http://bit.ly/foQ6LT = ads! (and reading between the lines, coupons) #
- I'm finding @PayPalX tweet stats fascinating http://bit.ly/gX4mmS #
Web tools and tips:
- Tip: Google Docs now supports video uploads and playback http://bit.ly/fgTDEM #
- Awesome presentation creation and distribution pointers and tips http://bit.ly/eHUtUq from @smashingmag #
Personal matters:
- TweetStats is revealing some interesting things about when I'm sharing http://bit.ly/dRXqVJ (still digesting the details, more later) #
- Here's my @TweetStats generated tweet word cloud http://bit.ly/gaSl4I #
- How we celebrated the New Year http://bit.ly/ewUEFT (there were cupcakes http://bit.ly/hpPjXG ) & a first alarm clock http://bit.ly/dUL5Z9 #
Running:
- Download @RunKeeper Pro for iPhone and Android FREE through the month of January! http://bit.ly/gPNy4U #
- My cold worsened last week and I decided to take a few days off to recuperate. I’m finally starting to feel better and hoping to get out for a run later today or else tomorrow. In the meantime I’ve been dreaming of trail runs and races to come, including the Post Oak Challenge next month (signing up for the double, probably 25k+quarter mara) and a full marathon later in the year (Route 66 in Tulsa). http://bit.ly/fmntPS #
- Ran 2.73 miles in 28 mins and felt great. Split paces 8:30, 8:12, 8:24, 8:02, 8:07, 7:35, and 8:05. http://bit.ly/hpXGl1 #
- Easy run (including some walking) with family. Saw a soldier launching model rockets with his kids. http://bit.ly/eU9y2v #
[This was my sixth most popular X.com item last year.]
You’re a developer who wants to integrate payments into your applications. Great! You’ve read my overview of the various PayPal X APIs and technologies available to you and you’re ready to get started. Fabulous! Now what?
You need to consider the SDKs, bindings, and sample programs available on the platform(s) you’re using. For instance, let’s say you want to use the Adaptive Account API as you enroll new customers for your service (here’s one example of why and how you might want to do that). Let’s also suppose that your service is written in Java, targeted at the Java 1.6 runtime. If you check the PayPal SDKs and Downloads page you’ll find that you have the option of using a PayPal provided SOAP binding to simplify your development. If you’re able to use SOAP, download the binding and explore its JSP-based examples to get started straightaway.
But if you aren’t using SOAP, say you’d prefer to use JSON, XML, or name-value pairs RESTfully, then you will need to use a third party library or build support for your preferred option into your application yourself. Not necessarily a big deal, but it will likely take a little more time and effort to get your application up and running without the ability to bootstrap off of PayPal’s provided bindings and samples.
Here’s a table summarizing the Adaptive Account and Adaptive Payment API bindings and samples available from PayPal:
| Programming Platform | Bindings | Packaging |
|---|---|---|
| Java 1.6 | SOAP | Windows ZIP, Linux tar and tar.gz |
| PHP 5.2 | SOAP, JSON, XML | Windows ZIP, Linux tar and tar.gz |
| ASP.NET 2.0 | SOAP, JSON, XML | Windows ZIP |
| Ruby on Rails | NVP | Windows ZIP |
| Java 1.5 (support to be discontinued soon) | SOAP | Windows ZIP, Linux tar and tar.gz |
Click here to read the rest of this tools blog post on the PayPal X Developer Network.
Are you ramping up your knowledge on developing for PayPal Apps and wanting to learn as much as you can about similar systems too? If so, I’ve got something for you to investigate: Google Apps Marketplace.
Google Apps, a cloud based bundle of popular Google applications for businesses and other organizations, recently added support for third party add-ons with the launch of its Google Apps Marketplace. This marketplace allows third party developers to sell Google Apps-compatible applications, roughly analogous to the functionality provided by PayPal Apps for PayPal customers.
[This was my seventh most popular X.com item last year.]
We often hear that new, better ways to pay are just around the corner. While near field communication (NFC) based contactless payments have been in various trials and limited deployments in many places around the world for a while now, they always seem to be “not quite ready for prime time” for large-scale US deployments.
Recent news may indicate that this is finally about to change. Earlier this week three of the four major US wireless carriers announced they are going after smartphone payments using NFC tech. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are looking at doing an initial four city test before a wider rollout. The fact that these three cut-throat competitors are working together shows that there is serious money to be had by whomever gets contactless payments right, and the carriers would much rather it be them than the credit card networks.
Indeed, as US cell penetration has risen and ever more capable feature phones and smartphones have come to market, options for cell phone based payments have climbed rapidly.
Another example: PayPal partner Bling Nation is testing its chip tag based payments. (Bling Nation uses PayPal technology to enable consumers to get funds into its system for light touch purchases.) While the carrier NFC-based option only requires a NFC-capable mobile phone to get within a few inches of a reader for the payment to be made, Bling’s tag affixed to the back of a mobile handset must be lightly touched to a reader for payment to occur. This is at least superficially quite similar to MasterCard’s RFID-based PayPass technology.
Key point: Whether you are using contactless or “light touch” mobile phone payments, you’re able to make your purchase quicker and more securely than using a traditional credit card, and you can do it with the mobile phone you already have in your pocket (or hand) anyway.
Click here to read the rest of the blog post on the PayPal X Developer Network.
[This was my eighth most popular X.com item last year.]
Earlier this summer Google announced an extension that enables mobile payments for Android phone users.
The extension bridges the divide between merchandise being purchased in a physical store, market, or expo and the customer’s desire to pay via their Android phone. Though physical goods are bought on the spot, the payment is made via Google Checkout using the merchant’s Store Gadget and the customer’s Android phone.
Click here to read how it works via the complete post on the PayPal X Developer Network.
BillDay.com 