PayPal Unveils New Android SDK, Available To US Developers May 15

An anonymous reader writes "PayPal on Monday announced a new Android SDK that tries to make it easier for developers to accept in-app payments on Google's mobile platform. The company says the software development kit will be available for US developers on May 15. The Android debut comes just over two months after the mobile SDK for iOS, which supports iOS 5+ on all varieties of iPhone and iPad screen sizes and resolutions. At the time, PayPal said an Android flavor was coming, and now it has delivered: its SDK will support version 2.2, meaning Froyo (released in May 2010), and above."

Comments

Next week they'll freeze it

[Threni]

and the week after they'll take all your source code and give it back to whichever lying downloader complains first.

thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

tldr: we have made it easier to use us as your moneychanger of limited choice, oh hang on some guy called jesus is at the door...bbiab

Yay, more fragmentation

[atom1c]

Don't get me wrong, this is good news -- a tech company ACTUALLY delivering on their SDK promises... but I fear it'll be characterized as yet ANOTHER payment mechanism within the Android ecosystem subject to regional limitations... and, thus, greater fragmentation in the Android world.

In other news...

[Anonymous Coward]

In other news, big companies that want to make money port their SDKs.

There's only one thing I need to know.

[VortexCortex]

Can it automatically split transactions among 50 accounts to account for state sales tax?

Re:There's only one thing I need to know.

[TheDarkener]

Hi, 4chan! *waves*

Re:There's only one thing I need to know.

[TheRealDevTrash]

Yes. And she's damn well proud of it. Now blue dicks. Oi. But hey she's my Mom I love 'er regardless.

PayPal

[MoronGames]

I hope this doesn't take off. I feel much better about letting companies like Google or Apple handle my money for transactions within apps, than horrible companies like PayPal. Here's a good resource for information about how PayPal treats its customers:

paypalwarning.com

Re:PayPal

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty much the reason I'm not so excited about Tesla and SpaceX. Their tech is cool and useful but I don't trust an Elon Musk brewed company.

Re:PayPal

[gstoddart]

No shit.

Until PayPal is actually regulated like the bank it pretends not to be, I sure as hell wouldn't use them, and I sure as hell wouldn't set up my phone to use them.

They're not a company I have any trust in.

Doesn't this break Developer TOS

[Anonymous Coward]

Using a 3rd party payment processor is against the Google Developer Terms of Service.

Section 3.3 : "All fees received by Developers for Products distributed via the Market must be processed by the Market's Payment Processor."

https://play.google.com/intl/ALL_uk/about/developer-distribution-agreement.html

Re: Doesn't this break Developer TOS

[Anonymous Coward]

It does, but it's awesome for devs that break the TOS anyways and can't collect cash via Google Wallet anymore.

Re:Doesn't this break Developer TOS

[Ost99]

Only applies to products distributed through the Market.
This adds an easy payment option for the thousands of apps distributed outside Google Play.

Re:Doesn't this break Developer TOS

[tlhIngan]

Using a 3rd party payment processor is against the Google Developer Terms of Service.

Section 3.3 : "All fees received by Developers for Products distributed via the Market must be processed by the Market's Payment Processor."

https://play.google.com/intl/ALL_uk/about/developer-distribution-agreement.html

Only if you can accept payments via Google Checkout/Wallet.

You see, the Play market is available in more countries that you can accept payment from - paid apps are simply not shown to those countries. (For a long time after Android first came out, the only supported country was the US, while the phone was available in a number of other countries, including Canada. End result is if you wanted a paid app, you had to pirate it because Google didn't make it available to you).

As a result, many apps went "freemium" because it's either not show up and be pirated, or go free and make up the money selling ads and in-app purchases (the latter being fairly new, which is why many apps use the ad model with fairly ... "liberating" permissions required).

So if you're selling in a country that can accept Google payments, you must use it. If not, you're free to engage Paypal and others (which until Google allowed in-app payments most devs used Paypal, and even after IAPs until Google cracked down).

Fact remains, Play is available in more countries than you can accept money from.

Re:Doesn't this break Developer TOS

[Marxist Hacker 42]

This isn't for Developers to receive funds. This is for developers to make products they sell through the market to retailers in farmer's markets, who sell goods to take funds through paypal.

Hmmm....An idea. Tie this SDK to an SDK for instant background checks, and make an app that allows dealers at gun shows to become compliant with firearms background check laws.....