Anders Bylund reports for Arstechnica.com and concludes that its "not the PayPal killer many expected" largely because "this is not going to be a person-to-person payment system anytime soon".

Dennis O'Reilly of PC World writes about his first hand experiences with Google Checkout today. He says "I suspect the little green Google Checkout cart will soon be all over the Web."

Reuters is reporting that the European Union's antitrust regulator has "formally charged the credit card company with breaking its rules by restricting competition between banks."

It's official, EMC this afternoon announced that it is acquiring RSA Security in an all-cash transaction valued at slightly less than $2.1 billion.   » Continue Reading

Bruce Cundiff of Javelin Strategy and Research writes on his blog about PayPal vs. Google, thinking in terms of on eBay (where issues have been raised as to whether eBay would allow its merchants to accept a Google-provided payment service) vs. the off-eBay merchant opportunity (which is where he thinks the real battleground will be).

Google this morning launched the long rumored (and often called GBuy) Google Checkout, a new online payment option for ecommerce merchants and online shoppers that plays on many of the same consumer themes of safety and convenience that have been key to PayPal's success. Google Checkout allows consumers to store - in a new version of an online wallet - their payment and shipping address information with Google. (According to Laura Petrecca writing for USA Today, "Google says it also is in talks with online payment service PayPal to let Checkout handle payments by holders of PayPal accounts, which connect with its users' credit cards and banks.") Assuming merchant acceptance of Google Checkout ramps up, the new service appears to position Google as a major hub for ecommerce transactions on the web.   » Continue Reading

Bank of America made it official today with the launch of the Bank of America American Express Rewards Card -- "the first Bank of America credit card to be accepted for payment on the American Express global network."   » Continue Reading

Andrew Ross Sorkin and John Markoff report for the New York Times that RSA Security is in the late stages of negotiating a sale of the company - with EMC reported as one of the potential bidders to acquire the company.