PayPal Acquires Mobile Startup, Extends Here App To iPad

by Mark Walsh, Mar 14, 2013, 1:47 PM

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Aiming to enhance its digital wallet efforts, PayPal has acquired mobile development firm Duff Research. The startup has created some 40 apps for companies including Tivo and Adidas. Its 18 employees, including co-founder Cheoff Chatterton, will join PayPal under the deal.

PayPal last year began trialing a mobile wallet service with retail chains including Home Depot, JCPenney, Foot Locker, Barnes & Noble and Office Depot across 17,000 U.S. stores. At checkout, users can either enter their phone number and PIN linked to their PayPal accounts or swipe a prepaid PayPal card at a POS terminal to pay.

Separately, PayPal introduced a version of its PayPal Here app for the iPhone. Launched a year ago for the iPhone and Android phones, the app allows small businesses and sole proprietors to accept credit and debit cards with a companion device attachment.

“In listening to our customers we learned that while all love the convenience, security and functionality of PayPal Here, some prefer the larger screen of the iPad,” wrote Hill Ferguson, VP of global product, at PayPal in a blog post announcing the step. Besides being optimized for the iPad, the app incorporates parent company eBay’s Red Laser barcode scanning technology to speed up checkout.

PayPal Here was launched last week in Japan through a partnership with telecom and Internet giant SoftBank, which will sell the PayPal Here attachment at 2,700 retail locations. The m-payment service will expand to the U.K. this summer.

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