Everyone knows that Android is one of Google’s products competing in the mobile market. Google Android has its own application market for Android users to sell and buy applications. And of course the payment processing for Android Market is Google Checkout, as the default payment gateway. For those outside the US, it’s hard to have a Google Checkout account, and not all applications are available for users outside the US.
There is a rumor that PayPal announced payment support for Android Market. As you know, Google Checkout and PayPal are competitors, and Android Market is under Google. So do you think it’s possible? In my opinion it’s possible, but I don’t think Google would want to share the profit by putting PayPal payment support there. So it is almost impossible.
But PayPal accidentally posted a short announcement on its corporate blog saying they will support “all three major mobile platforms” markets. You can see the screenshot below:
But this announcement was pulled out seconds later. We don’t know why the announcement was pulled, but presumably the news would be spread at PayPal’s X Innovate conference that day and someone simply pulled the trigger on the blog post a bit too soon.
So will PayPal support Android Market or not? I don’t know yet. All I know is that until now I don’t see any PayPal payment option when I try to buy Android apps on Android Market. But I wish they will support this, because PayPal payment is more friendly for those of us outside the US.