British news outlets are reporting that Google will officially launch its Google Checkout payment service in the UK on Friday. The Telegraph and the BBC both reported the news on their websites late Thursday. While Google had signaled its intention to expand internationally during an investor conference call in January, it had given no details, and there are no clues as to whether a Friday expansion might include Canada or any other countries besides the UK.

As of late Thursday, there appeared to be no official word from Google; the Google Checkout blog had no announcement, and a FAQ about which countries does Google Checkout supports still stated, "Google Checkout merchants can ship goods inside and outside the United States. U.S. buyers and buyers in a limited number of countries outside the United States can sign up for the service and make purchases (in U.S. dollars) through Google Checkout. We're working toward making Google Checkout more widely available in the near future. At this time, however, we cannot provide any details regarding when Google Checkout will be available in specific countries" (http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/answer.py?answer=42871).

In a January conference call with investors, Google founder and President of Technology Sergey Brin said that in the six months since Checkout's launch in June 2006, thousands of small and medium merchants had signed up and had more than 20 percent of the Web's top 500 retailers, including Toys"R"Us, Linens 'n Things, PETCO and Buy.com. "We expect this momentum to continue as we expand Checkout beyond the U.S. and deepen integration with other products," Brin said

eBay continues to ban sellers from offering Google Checkout in listings according to its Accepted Payments Policy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/04/13/cngoog13.xml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6549643.stm