Paypal might not be the only online e-commerce game in town, but if you frequently buy and sell items online, the Ebay-owned payment system might as well be. Other payment systems have come and gone, and some, like Google Checkout, still remain, but none have been able to duplicate the success and widespread acceptance that Paypal has. But what if Apple were to enter the fray?

According to chatter on Wall Street, Apple executives can barely restrain themselves from spilling the beans on a new service that would allow iTunes Store account holders to use those accounts to make purchases on participating third-party sites, Silicon Alley Insider says.

If such a service would ever come to fruition, Apple would become a competitor to Paypal overnight, bringing with it a huge existing install-base of potential users. And it wouldn't be as much of a leap as some might think. iPhone owners can already use their iTunes accounts to purchase virtual and subscription goods in third-party iPhone applications, albeit at 30 percent per transaction.

For now it remains just gossip, but with lots of users eager for a true Paypal alternative, someone is eventually going to fill that void, Apple or otherwise.

Image Credit: Apple via Silicon Valley Insider