The much anticipated Google Checkout has arrived offering features that were unexpected, primarily for current AdWords clients. What’s nice, like paypal, is that checkout information is stored in one spot but is transparent to the merchant, meaning they never know your credit card information.

For Adwords clients, a shopping cart (Google Checkout Badge) appears next to your adwords ads in search results letting the user know you are certified by Google. This is nice for both Google and the merchant giving legitimacy to both. The standard transaction rates are also lower than Paypal’s.

The feature I am most excited about is the API released in conjuction with the product release allowing any developer to plug Google Checkout into their existing online checkout forms.

Another great addition to this service is its integration with Google Base, Google’s Listing service. Also with the launch is a list of several online retailers who have integrated this service into their checkout systems. While this will be a great service for small businesses, which is obviously their target, it will be interesting to see the level of adoption.

technorati tags:google, googlecheckout, software, saas