The mighty Google has spread its net even wider - it is launching Google Checkout, which is a system that will compete directly with PayPal as a means of transferring money to pay for things online.

There is certainly room for another player in that market - for the moment Paypal has the field pretty well all to itself, and as a result has little pressure to keep charges competitive.  It is the most common way to settle up for purchases on Ebay - so it comes as no surprise to learn that eBay bought Paypal a while ago.  So not only do they get a fee for selling your old bits and pieces, they help themselves to a bit of the money as it passes from hand to hand.

So don't expect them to leap to allow Google Checkout to be used on eBay - but the sheer weight of commercial pressure that Google can impose may swing it.

It only remains to see what other areas of our lives Google will step into.  A Google phone is a certainty, I would have thought, and why not a Goole Bank?

There might even be Google schools and Universities - Google trains, Google Utilities... good grief...

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