How Google Checkout Could Threaten PayPal

Wade Roush writes for MIT's Technology Review about Google Checkout and the threat it could represent to PayPal for consumer ecommerce payments to merchants - even with its lack of a person-to-person payment capability. Roush suggests that, for consumers, it's a "relatively small step to give Google a credit card number and let the company track online purchases, especially when the promised reward is simpler transactions in the future, along with tools like the purchase history and transaction tracker."

[Editor's note: Seems like Wade has his merchant value proposition reversed - our understanding is that Google provides a credit toward Google Checkout fees based upon the amount the merchant spends on Google AdWords - at the rate of a $1 credit for every $10 spent on AdWords. We also noticed last night that Google is running its own AdWords ads promoting Google Checkout with the language: "Running an eCommerce site? Learn how you can process sales for free."]