Expand your skills by attending the Innovate 2010 – PayPal X Developer Conference[^] in San Francisco on October 26-27. The conference will attract more than 2,000 developers who want to learn more about how technology and payments intersect. The PayPal X Developer Challenge offers you a chance to build innovative applications using the PayPal X platform and win up to $170,000. The conference will also feature the first annual Hackalicious Hack Fest.

But for developers, the real payoffs will be the hands-on aspects of the conference and the chance to interact with like-minded developers. PayPal has opened its global payments platform to developers like you. Now everyone has access to PayPal’s formerly internal APIs, code samples, documentation, training, developer forums, and more. For details, see X.com[^].

"You can get a sneak peak at the newest features released from PayPal, as well as get a preview of some unreleased functionality," explains PayPal Merchant Services Sales Engineer Kyle Loftis. "There are also unlimited networking possibilities with the large audience of developers and retailers who visit the conference."

Get Mobile Payments Using PayPal X

With the ever-increasing popularity of smartphones and other mobile devices such as the iPad, some of the most in-demand sessions will be the mobile commerce ones. Kent Griffin, PayPal Sr. Product Manager, Mobile, is doing a session on "Mobile and PayPal X," as well as two "playground" sessions on the PayPal Mobile Payments Library: one focused on the iPhone/iPad platform and one on the Android platform. "Our goal is to make sure you know how you can monetize your app or your mobile site with a few simple PayPal tools," Griffin commented about his first mobile session. "And even if you aren’t into mobile yet, I hope this will show you the potential that inspires you to come up with some new ideas and businesses."

Optimize Buying Using PayPal Express Checkout

Another session is "The Ins and Outs of PayPal Express Checkout," presented by Kyle Loftis. "This session will be good for any sellers who want to use PayPal on their site, but it is primarily geared towards the developers who really make the checkout portion of a website come together and make money for the retailer."

The session will demonstrate why PayPal’s Express Checkout APIs are becoming the industry standard. "These APIs provide you with the best possible customer experience, giving the website that is processing the order full control of finalizing the payment, rather than leaving the customer at PayPal when the payment is complete," notes Loftis. "The APIs also give you the ability to set up recurring payments, billing agreements, and delayed settlement-type payments."

To attend, sign up by September 15 and save $100. Register here[^].

Get Early Access to New PayPal Services at the Hackalicious Hack Fest

Innovate 2010 will see the release of new PayPal services, features, and products, and the Hackalicious Hack Fest is your chance to be the first to try them out-- hands-on coding, playing with and adding the new functionality and features into your apps. The best new apps built (or existing apps enhanced) during the Hack Fest will be featured on the main stage during the closing keynote on day 2.

Just bring your apps, tools, libraries, laptop, devices, and whatever else you’ll need to build and enhance your app. PayPal will provide all the tools and information you need, including on-site technical support to take you from start to finish.

Enter the PayPal X Developer Challenge

The PayPal X Developer Challenge awards will be presented at the closing session of Innovate 2010. You may have an existing app to submit that could win you as much as $170,000, but you will need to act quickly-- applications[^] must be fully submitted by September 22nd.(Use of some advanced PayPal APIs in submitted apps had to be approved by PayPal by Sept. 1st, but you can still submit apps using other PayPal APIs[^] until Sept. 22nd.

Besides a $100,000 grand prize there are also seven “X Awards,” which provide $10,000 each for innovation in key areas[^] <./p>

You can follow all of the ongoing events at Innovate 2010 on X.com[^]. If you can’t enter the current challenge, we hope you’ll enter the 2011 challenge.

About Innovate 2010

"Innovate is the only payments conference for developers that lets them take part in 'changing the way we pay' in the future," according to PayPal developer evangelist Praveen Alavilli. Innovate 2010 will feature more than 30 demos with code samples; more than 40 technical sessions across nine track topics, and more than 60 sponsored exhibits. Keynote speakers include O'Reilly Media Inc. Founder and CEO Tim O'Reilly, eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe, PayPal President Scott Thompson; PayPal Developer Network Senior Director Naveed Anwar (who will also serve again as host), and PayPal Platform and Emerging Technology Vice President Osama Bedier.

Take Your Ideas to the Next Level at Innovate 2010 – PayPal X Developer Conference