PayPal announced last Wednesday that they purchased Duff Research, a mobile applications developer. It is a step by the eBay owned company to be more flexible and concentrated on modern technology. The purchase price though was not mentioned in their press release.
In the fast pace of the industry, PayPal is having a hard time competing with newer mobile based payment service providers like Square Inc. Competition has been very fierce with many players seeking to increase its market share from those currently held by PayPal. Purchasing Duff Research was the right step for Paypal since it has created about 40 mobile applications for companies like TiVo Inc and Adidas AG.
To compete with other payment service providers, David Marcus, the new President, wants to change PayPal's reputation as slow and less innovative. James Barrese, the Chief Technology Office of PayPal said, "What we're really after with this deal is the innovators and experience. We are reinventing our organization to be more technology led."
Barrese also added that the Duff Research team consisted of 18 employees including its co-Founder Geoff Chatterton will all be working on projects that will improve PayPal's main digital wallet product.
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