This week
The Economist magazine discusses the PalPal vs. Google Checkout rivalry.
They admire PayPal's market share (more accounts than American Express), efforts to streamline merchant integration (down to days from weeks), low fraud rates, and constant innovation. But Google's Checkout is a formidable challenger, particularly as Google is content to run Checkout at break even (or even at a loss) as a means to attract ever more advertising.
Read more:
A battle at the checkout
The Economist
May 3, 2007
Related articles:
- Consumer Reports Weighs In on Virtual Wallets – PayPal, Google Checkout, Bill Me Later, etc.)
- Google Checkout extends free processing for 12 more months; does this redefine the online payments game?
- PayPal Continues to Dominate Google CheckOut
- Google Checkout Adjusts Pricing Upward – Matching PayPal
- Google Checkout (not a rumor anymore)
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hmm — the Economist is normally better than this. Amex is still far, far bigger than PayPal in gross transaction volume — and both PayPal and Google are still “wrappers” for Visa and MasterCard — not really services in their own right.
I’m surprised — the Economist usually spots the bigger trends — the emergence of ACH debit and credit and inovators like PaidByCash which are shaking up the payments landscape.