Can we implement payment(like paypal) functionality from iphone application

Question

Hi,
I need to implement payment functionality like paypal which will provide functionality that user can pay the bill of restaurant.
I want to know that is it possible and if yes then how can i implement this.
Thanks,
Hareh.

Answer 1

I would imagine you would use the PayPal model where the diner would give his account name or number to the waiter. The waiter logs on and creates an invoice against the users account. The user logs on with his name and password and approves the transaction and the money is transferred to the restaurant's account immediately.
You could write your own app that attaches to the server directly and prompts the user for their name and password, displays all waiting invoices and lets the user approve. This would also be possible from a regular web browser as well. But you could write a lightweight app specifically for that if you want. You could dress it up with a tip calculator and other things to make it fancy. (Although in the French market the tip is usually included in the bill.)
The most important thing is to use the existing security measures because you will get much better security using https: to conduct your web transactions then writing your own security model. You also get better security holding this information on the server and not in the phone itself.
I know you're asking about iPhone only but I would open it up to all browsers - Blackberry, laptops etc. Restaurants could even have a web terminal where I could log in and approve the transaction without the phone. The bigger your potential market the greater your chance of success.
=Tod