This is a most insightful article on Google Checkout from Om.  Worth reading is the piece on the implications for Yahoo, eBay, and Paypal.

GigaOM : » Why Google Is Doing Checkouts?

Going forward, the much talked about Google Payment system (the Paypal rival) could give them even more leverage and hurt rivals in the process. But in a larger scheme of things, it could be trivial. Why because for Google, the real advantage is not just to gain payments market share & revenue, but to increase AdWords sales and reduce click fraud through the creation of a fundamentally better advertising system — that is, CPA-based ads.

Yahoo / eBay / Amazon had one significant advantage over Google the past few years — knowing point-of-sale data. As of today, it is not that much of an advantage. Sure they can launch CPA-based ads themselves also, but by the time that happens…

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