This article in Readwrite.comindicates that despite a relationship with Apple that goes back to 2004, PayPalwas not only actively denied participation in Apple Pay it is also activelydiscouraging developers from using PayPal:
“Appleand PayPal have been partners in payments for almost a decade, dating back to a2004 deal in which Apple started accepting PayPal in the iTunes Music Store.
ButApple left PayPal, which reportedly lobbied to be included in its paymentplans, out in the cold in the launch of Apple Pay.
Appleis recommending that developers integrating Apple Pay into their apps orwebsites use SDKs, or software-development kits, from one of six paymentprocessors. PayPal and its Braintree Payments subsidiary isn’t one of them—butBraintree archrival Stripe is.
Itall but warns off developers from using other services:
Usingone of these SDKs is highly recommended. Contact your payment provider for moreinformation.The alternative is to provide your own server-side solution toreceive payments from your app, decrypt payment tokens and interface with thepayment provider. Handling credit and debit card payments can be complicatedand unless you already have the expertise and systems in place, an SDK from apayment provider is the quickest and most reliable way to support Apple Pay inyour app.”
At the same time Apple was distancing itself from PayPal itwas also clearly aligning itself with Stripe:
“Stripe,naturally, is gloating about its inclusion, to the point of stretching thetruth. An email from its PR agency falsely describes Apple Pay as being”built on Stripe.” That’s not true, of course, and one imaginesprideful Apple executives might take offense at the claim. In any event, Stripewas clearly briefed on Apple Pay early and allowed to build interfaces and writedocumentation available on the day of launch.
PayPal however has its own rationale for having been excluded:
“In an interview with ReadWrite, Bill Ready, CEO of Braintree Payments, did hisbest to spin PayPal’s omission. He noted that Braintree’s V.zero software,which developers include in apps and websites to accept credit and debit cards,can easily add new forms of payment—as it plans to do with Bitcoin, forexample.
‘We can handle these transactions,’ Ready told me. ‘Apple is very clear that youcan use your existing payments provider.’ ”
Whereas Apple has implemented a strategy that relies on theexisting payment networks and cost structures, PayPal is arguing that they arepayment type agnostic. If PayPal cankeep the cost of acceptance for merchants low, then it should see continuedtraction as merchants do everything in their power to lower payment costs.
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation, Mercator Advisory Group
Read full article in ReadWrite
