Customers looking for more payment options for that next Mac or iPhone just got a new choice – PayPal. The online payments giant is now available at checkout on Apple’s online retail channel in both the U.S. and U.K., and Apple is also promoting PayPal’s Credit system, which offers buyers using that method up to 18 months to pay off a purchase without interest.
In some ways, the PayPal integration was expected: Apple has offered it as a payment method for its digital goods marketplaces, for instance, including the iTunes Music store and the App Store. But PayPal also took a potshot at Apple following the introduction of its Apple Pay solution, using the mass celebrity photo leak as a way to suggest Apple’s security practices as insufficient for protecting user money.
Apple’s use of PayPal in its hardware store online indicates the company is likely less interested in dominating the payments space than in offering the most convenience possible for customers of its primary moneymakers, iOS and Mac hardware. Even Apple Pay, in fact, seems primarily intended to give prospective iOS device owners another reason to purchase, more than anything else.
It’s in Apple’s best interest to provide as many options as possible to consumers looking to buy, and PayPal’s 18-month no payment promotion should also help to attract some buyers who might otherwise have cold feet.
Jaytee 
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