EBay's Braintree launches developer kit to boost mobile shopping

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Braintree, the payments gateway owned by eBay Inc, is trying to remove a hurdle for e-commerce companies by making it easier for customers to pay for products on their smart phones. The company launched a set of tools for software developers on Wednesday that allows businesses to deduct payments directly from a customer's PayPal account. The developer kit is the first big push from Braintree since it was bought by eBay for $800 million last year to help PayPal, eBay's payments division, expand its presence on mobile devices. Eliminating the need for mobile shoppers to type in their credit card details on their phones should help boost sales, Braintree Chief Executive Bill Ready said in an interview. This is especially critical as consumers spend more time on their smart phones, a trend that is forcing developers to design a "fundamentally different computing experience" for the smaller screen, Ready added. Braintree processes payments for businesses including car service Uber and online home-rental marketplace Airbnb. (Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)