A breakthrough for Lebanese e-commerce?

ENAR

The Lebanese blogosphere lit up last week when PayPal announced at the ArabNet conference that it would begin offering services in the country later this year. A gaggle of online commentators welcomed the news, with responses ranging from excitement to mere relief. “I can’t tell you how much this helps me,” one commenter said. PayPal is the leading global service that manages online payments. It is owned by eBay, the world’s top online marketplace, and rose to prominence alongside the site. But it has branched out and is moving rapidly into mobile technology and other new trends. Yet until now, those Lebanese wanting to buy goods or services via PayPal have been unable to, or have been forced to use foreign cards. The reason, the company says, was strategic – Lebanon’s market was not ready before. Even now e-commerce is still in its infancy, with only 9 percent of Internet