Mastercard will open its platform to third-party developers, according to a report in the New York Times on Tuesday. Mastercard's Chief Innovation Officer explained the program in similar terms as when PayPal opened up its platform to developers last year, and like PayPal, it will share revenue with developers.

PayPal announced in July that it had begun allowing developers to embed its global payment system into their applications and platforms, citing a $30 trillion opportunity in payment for services. It hosted 1,500 developers in the fall when it officially launched its open platform, called PayPal X, and showcased applications using its Adaptive Payments API in areas such as gaming, fundraising and social networking, including TwitPay, LiveOps, GreenDot, Fundrazer and Lottay.

But it is mobile applications that have payment services most excited. PayPal offers mobile checkout allowing developers to add a checkout button to accept mobile payments without requiring delelopers to collect financial information.

Mastercard told the Times it would let developers use its technology in their own online apps and on mobile phones "to see what other people can come up with for paying online and in the real world."

See "MasterCard Wants Programmers to Use Its Payment Technology" in the New York Times Bits blog.