PayPal is planning to launch the new PayPal card in the second half of next year. The payments company expects 20 national retailers to integrate their solution in 2012. The plastic card will allow users to link several accounts to choose from at the POS. An appeal to security, the new payment option uses tokenization to reference account details rather than embossing or otherwise storing an account number on the physical card.
Merchants only need to upgrade their terminal’s software to accept PayPal’s card, while digital wallet platforms in most cases require an expensive hardware overhaul. PayPal’s commitment to plastic indicates that the growing payment firm is not limiting itself to any one platform to increase its presence at in-store POS terminals. Online POS machines are blending ecommerce and in-store transactions and creating an opportunity for PayPal to become a tender type, greatly expanding the company’s addressable market.
Read more at: http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/176_202/paypal-disintermediation-mobile-wallet-1043246-1.html