Shares of PayPal slide amidst rumors of browser-based Apple Pay checkout

PayPal stock dipped on Thursday, as investors reacted to a new rumor claiming Apple Pay may soon further encroach on its business with upcoming website integration.

Shares of PayPal were down nearly 9 percent in early morning trading, but recovered some as the day went on. Investors appear to be concerned that PayPal could suffer if Apple Pay expands to support purchases on the Web.

Wednesday evening, a new report claimed that Apple has reached out to potential e-commerce partners to indicate that Apple Pay will soon support purchases on websites. It's believed that the new functionality will come to storefronts before the end of 2016.

Apple Pay for Web purchases is expected to be limited to transactions conducted through Safari on iOS devices that feature Touch ID and Apple Pay support. Currently, Apple Pay is available for contactless payments on newer iPhones, as well as in-app purchase authorizations on both recent iPhones and iPads.

When Apple Pay was announced in 2014, PayPal was a notably missing partner from the service. Earlier reports had suggested that PayPal was in talks with Apple, but a report apparently fell apart after PayPal agreed to team up with Samsung.

Apple ultimately chose to bring payments startup Stripe into the fold, seemingly filling the seat at the table left vacant by PayPal. PayPal then responded last year by buying Paydiant, a mobile wallet developer with clients including retailer-driven CurrentC.

25 Comments

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cash907censored 9 Years · 83 comments

About 8 years ago

This. So much this. If I could transfer money to my friends and family as well as accept payment for goods and services via Apple Pay, I'd ditch Paypal and Square in a heartbeat.

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ericthehalfbee 13 Years · 4489 comments

Wow, a rumor about Apple that doesn't cause Apple stock to drop.

PayPal is garbage. Wouldn't bother me one bit to see them suffer.

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hungedu 8 Years · 15 comments

Ha! Couldn't happen to a better company. PayPal sucks!

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evilution 13 Years · 1395 comments

I don't see your problem with PayPal. You are obviously too young to remember having to send a check when buying on eBay.
It's the forefather of online payments and has held up well.

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sflocal 16 Years · 6139 comments

evilution said:

I don't see your problem with PayPal. You are obviously too young to remember having to send a check when buying on eBay.
It's the forefather of online payments and has held up well.

I agree... I'm still kind of new to using PayPal, and am a really light user of it. It's only recently that I've started accepting payments from clients using it. It's been fine for me and really convenient. I remember vividly the check-writing era and am more than happy we've moved on from that.

That being said, if Apple provides a full-circle solution of making/accepting payments via ApplePay, that's even less I'll use PayPal for.