PayPal Buys Mobile App Firm, Adds iPad Merchant App (March 14, 2013)
March 14, 2013
PayPal Inc. is preparing to rev up its digital wallet with the acquisition of Duff Research, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based mobile app development shop, the company announced this week on its blog. PayPal since last year has been putting a heavy emphasis on mobile in all of its new product developments, wrote James Barrese, PayPal’s chief technology officer. Now with Duff’s team of engineers under its roof, PayPal says it’s deepening its bench in adding “creative and simple” ways for consumers to use its mobile wallet. Duff, which has developed more than 40 mobile apps for companies as diverse as TiVo and Adidas, now will focus exclusively on PayPal apps.
PayPal separately announced via its blog that it has launched an iPad app for PayPal Here targeting retailers that want to use the tablet as a POS payment device. The app, PayPal’s first native app for the iPad, enables merchants to scan barcodes and print a receipt or send one via email or text. The app connects wirelessly to a printer and cash register and also tracks daily sales activity. PayPal earlier this week released new development tools to enable third-party developers to streamline in-app payments.
