PayPal is opening up its mobile software developer kit to the global community today, enabling app makers everywhere to more easily integrate the company’s payment solutions.
The PayPal mobile SDK will enable app developers to integrate PayPal in much the same way they already do on the Web. User accounts will be saved so they don’t have to log in every time they want to pay through and app and the interaction flow is simplified so users are not taken to a new page when they want to make a transaction. The new mobile SDK will allow developers to accept both credit card and PayPal accounts for payment.
The first company to integrate the PayPal mobile SDK was Uber last November. The trial must have gone well as PayPal is opening up the SDK today to more than 30 markets across the world.
PayPal has made a big move into making itself not just a plugin service for developers but a platform to build upon in the last year. PayPal acquired payments portal Braintree last year for $800 million and has shifted its developer relations and resources to the Braintree wing of the company. PayPal also acquired mobile backend-as-a-service company StackMob in December to fill out its developer platform and team. PayPal will be shuttering StackMob’s service later this year.
Top image: PayPal’s David Marcus and Braintree’s Bill Ready via David Marcus
