fearlessrick - 1:47 pm on Sep 16, 2005 (gmt 0)

Google doesn't need to get into this merchant/processing business, but they surely like to explore the possibilities. PayPal is a cash cow for ebay and they've integrated it nicely into their ebay platform.

Outside of that, PayPal already has been through the trenches with the credit card companies and Google hasn't, so Google is going to be in a chase position for some time. I think trying to challenge PayPal is a poor business decison and will eventually cost Google in terms of focus and wasted resources.

Because PayPal is in the money transfer arena, there's plenty of regulatory aparatus already in place to keep them reasonably priced and under some control. A class action suit was recently settled against PayPal so there's already a history of being regulated.

Google can go ahead and delve into whatever they like. I'm perfectly happy to watch their services and stock price decline, to the benefit of consumers, mostly.