Mobile payments is a space we've been keeping an eye on here and late last summer, Sarah Perez took a look at the ongoing battle between Near Field Communications, other hardware solutions, and apps. With PayPal Local, the company is hedging its bets and covering both the software and hardware sides of the battle. Already, a partnership with Bling Nation covers the hardware end by fostering NFC with an NFC-enabled sticker that can be stuck on the back of a phone. The beauty of a software solution, of course, is that no extra hardware is required, whether a sticker, a special case or integrated chip.

PayPal Local went live last week and is only available in San Francisco, but offers users to ability to find local stores that support PayPal payments through its iPhone app. The app lets users search by category and location to find stores and offers, making it easy for PayPal merchants to lure customers in with deals and discounts.

While some say that PayPal beat Google to the punch with the update, Google had already offered a mobile payment solution (though somewhat inelegant) since last July.

The latest version of PayPal for the iPhone is available in the App Store.