Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) has begun to offer eBay, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:EBAY) PayPal electronic-payment service as an option for customers of its Home & Office store at www.hp.com. This is another example of, what I conside to be, the growing influence of electronic payment systems in this day and age of so much commerce being conducted via the Internet with no physical documents being used.

In fact, I consider eBay's acquisition of PayPal in 2002 to be -- by far -- the most rousing success for the online auction company. Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) recently launched Google Checkout service will have a hard time competing against such an entrenched competitor like PayPal, although Google's deep pockets may make Google Checkout more and more of a competitor as time goes on. With PayPal's rather-hefty fees, it needs a competitor badly. As always, having competition will reduce prices and force better innovation.

But now, PayPal is largely out in front of the electronic payments game, and this endorsement by HP proves that in a big way. I've always thought that most online major merchants could offer credit card acceptance along with checking account acceptance. That right there would comprise most of the payment methods consumers look for -- and there would be no middleman like PayPal to take a cut. But, consumers want as easy access as possible when "checking out," and with PayPal being so popular already, it's here to stay.