PayPal added as a payment option on iTunes, App Store, iBooks, and Apple Music in Canada and Mexico, with roll-out in US and other countries soon
Starting today in Canada and Mexico, and rolling out in other countries including the US soon after, PayPal customers will be able to pay for App Store …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the latest step in PayPal's push to embed itself in other companies' checkout flows rather than wait for users to open its app: it had already put person-to-person payments behind Siri voice commands in 30 countries and taken its One Touch instant web checkout global starting with the UK and Canada. Adding PayPal as a funding source across iTunes, the App Store, iBooks, and Apple Music puts the wallet inside Apple's subscription-heavy billing stack, starting in Canada and Mexico before a promised US roll-out.
The deal also predates Apple's own wallet ambitions maturing: two years later Apple would accept Apple Pay for iTunes, App Store, and Apple Music purchases across eight countries, and by 2022 PayPal itself was planning to support iPhone Tap to Pay and add Apple Pay at its merchant checkout — making this 2017 partnership an early data point in how the two companies' payment strategies have intertwined.
First-order effects
- PayPal customers in Canada and Mexico can now fund App Store, iTunes, iBooks, and Apple Music purchases from their PayPal balance or linked accounts instead of needing a card on file with Apple.
Second-order effects
- For the pending US roll-out, PayPal gains a recurring-billing foothold inside Apple Music and App Store subscriptions, while rival wallets are pressured to strike equivalent platform-billing integrations of their own.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, platform owners treat payment-method breadth as a services-growth lever rather than a closed system — a trajectory visible in Apple later opening its own storefronts to Apple Pay and PayPal reciprocating with Tap to Pay and Apple Pay acceptance.
The trend: Digital wallets are shifting from standalone apps toward embedded payment options inside rival platforms' billing systems, with each integration widening the other side's reach.