PayPal’s End Run Around the Payment Status Quo

PayPal president Scott Thompson has revealed a sneak peek of upcoming technologies from the online payment company. The new payment options center around smart phones, and allow tricks such as paying in a store via phone and bypassing the checkout line, or entering a PIN and phone number at a register instead of a credit card number. Payment through phones took off long ago in Asia, and has been gaining increasing acceptance in the United States. PayPal’s concepts are notable because they avoid new gadgets or the near-field communication technology used by alternative offerings such as Google Wallet.

Thompson writes:

Let’s be clear about something–we’re not just shoving a credit card on a phone. PayPal is reimagining money and making it work better for merchants and consumers–whatever device you’re on, wherever you are in the world, and however you prefer to pay (whether that’s cash, credit, or installments).

The company released a concept video that outlines the new payment systems.