Date: Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Google launches PayPal rival in UK - Google Checkout

Google has rolled out its online payment system, Google Checkout, in the UK, almost a year after it was launched in the United States. With the principal aim of boosting Google?s main revenue stream, advertising, the online payment system provides discounts to retailers on order processing ? the higher the advertising spend, the higher the discount. Although Google Checkout has been a success so far in the United States, Paypal remains the most widely used online payment system as the two services do not work in direct competition against each other. While Paypal allows customers to set up their own accounts into which they can deposit money, Google Checkout simply provides a transfer facility for credit card payments between customer and merchandiser. Google has not yet revealed details of any plans to extend the launch of Checkout to the rest of Europe.