There's a lot of speculation about Google going around about today (not that that's different from any other day). First, Inside Google is reporting a scoop from a "quality tipster" that Google recently sent out a notice to beta testers about a system that would allow users to
make purchases from "high-quality merchants" through their Google Accounts. According to Inside Google, the notice included a laundry list of products including "cell phone and iPod accessories, music and movies, health and beauty supplies, furniture, housewares, sports and outdoor gear, toys, games and more." In possibly-related news, ZDNet's Garrett Rogers says MarkMonitor, a company in the corporate identity business and which Google has been a client of previously,
has registered GoogleCheckout.net, .org, and .info (as DNStination, Inc., which operates out of the same office). GoogleCheckout.com, on the other hand, is registered to someone else via GoDaddy. So the question on everyone's lips is, is Google Checkout Google's answer to PayPal? That definitely seems to be the logical conclusion, and rumblings to that effect have been going on for months, if not a year or more. The timing is interesting, considering that just last week Yahoo! reportedly
struck up a deal with PayPal's corporate parent eBay to handle transactions (among other things), and acquisition rumors have been going around. One thing's for certain: If Google did get into the "checkout" business, it would pretty much instantly be a force to be reckoned with.
Tags: checkout, google, googlecheckout, money, payments, paypal, purchases
