PayPal may release a micropayment service before th year ends if reports are accurate. President Scott Thompson is said to have indicated as much.

The move would make too much sense not to come sooner or later, and sooner would no doubt be in PayPal's best interest. Not only are social games among the biggest trends of the web, but news organziations are still experimenting with ways to drive revenues, and micropayments are not out of the question for some.

Given PayPal's track record as the go-to online payment service, getting a micropayment service up and running seems like it should be a key initiative.

It has already been an interesting year for PayPal, with a great deal of emphasis on mobile endeavors. Recently, the company extended the bump technology of its iPhone app to Android, and its PayPal X Platorm has opened up a lot of opportunities for third-party developers. In June, it launched a Guest Payments feature, allowing credit card acceptance within apps.

Micropayments, particularly through mobile channels are bound to become much more in demand with the rise of virtual gifts, online news experiments, tablets, and mobile use in general.