PayPal payments now accepted at Apple

Apple is now allowing customers to pay for purchases online and in shops using PayPal, in a complete u-turn.

Both US and UK stores are also accepting payments over 99 via PayPal credit, allowing customers to pay for their items in monthly installments, without paying interest, over six, 12 or 18 months. It will hopefully boost sales of the company's more expensive products, such as Macbooks and iMacs.

Earlier in the year, Apple launched its own payment service, called ApplePay. However, one of the partners missing off the list was PayPal, leading to speculation the two companies had fallen out.

Adding fuel to the fire, rival manufacturer Samsung started using PayPal as its fingerprint sensor authorised payment option, meaning a partnership between Apple and the eBay-owned company looked pretty far off.

Innovation Bank's Ian Kar speculated in a blog post: "Apple was said to be absolutely furious that PayPal did the deal with Samsung, which led Apple to cut PayPal out of the Apple Pay process entirely. (One source said: "Apple kicked them out of the door.") This dust up with Apple was a big reason that David Marcus ended up leaving PayPal for Facebook."

Previously, Apple customers could only opt to use PayPal for payments on Apple's app and content stores on a computer, not on its iOS app, but it seems the two giants have kissed and made up, making things a lot easier for customers to buy products.

PayPal has long been the secure payment of choice, with its PayPal guarantee meaning both buyers and sellers have an extra layer of security should a fraudulent transaction take place.