Google Inc. may offer  electronic-payment service known internally as "google wallet" to compete directly with eBay's PayPal service later this year. Google has been seeking ways to diversify its income for some time, and has the recent financial success to enable it to do so.

Almost all of Google's entire income is derived currently fron advertising. Many users have recently reported that the bloom is off the rose when it comes to the automated google ads provided by the company, as Google seems intent on keeping the lion's share of the revenues in this area, thereby angering many businesses who receive income from these ads.

PayPal generates about one quarter of parent eBay's revenue, and is currently running at almost $1 billion per year. No longer the province of small companies unable to set up chartered credit-card accounts, PayPal is increasingly seen as an efficient way for businesses of all sizes around the globe to receive revenue from their customers.

Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, a Morrisville, N.C. e-commerce consulting firm, reportedly said at a recent financial conference that he thought Google would be launching against PayPal later this year.

Scott Wingo