Apple now takes PayPal online

Apple will allow PayPal payments in its digital stores, offering customers another checkout option on iTunes, iBooks, Apple Music and the App Store.

The partnership, which rolled out Tuesday in the U.S., Britain, Canada, Mexico, Australia and parts of Europe, lets users choose PayPal — a platform that many online shoppers are comfortable with, said Brendan Miller, a payments expert and analyst at Forrester.

“PayPal is by far the most used digital payment method besides debit and credit cards,” Miller said. “That alone will mean more transactions for Apple from customers who might have been leery of using their payment information online.”

More than 40% of U.S. adults online have used PayPal in the last three months to pay for a product or service, according to data from Forrester.

PayPal will also integrate with Siri and bring PayPal’s One Touch feature to Apple ID accounts, allowing for purchases with fewer clicks, PayPal said in a statement.

Customers with an Apple ID will be able to select PayPal as a preferred payment method — once selected it will become the default payment method and all future purchases will be charged to the PayPal account. This includes one-time purchases as well as monthly fees such as Apple Music subscriptions and iCloud storage, PayPal said in a statement.

Apple has its own wallet feature, Apple Pay. Miller said he sees a partnership, not a competition between the two transaction methods. “It’s not a win-lose battle,” he said. “I think we’ll see a lot more partnerships in this space.”

PayPal rose $1.79, or 3.3%, to $56.55 on Wednesday.