New PayPal Mobile feature: photograph a check and deposit it (Updated)

The feature is called Mobile Check Capture and it allows you to transfer a check into your PayPal balance by simply taking its picture with the iPhone's Camera app.

While not a new feature -- Chase Mobile began offering a similar feature in its iPhone app July 2010 -- I imagine that more people have PayPal accounts than have Chase accounts.

My favorite part of the blog post announcing the new PayPal Mobile feature is: "once photographed, just hold onto your check for 15 days and then you can throw it away."

Well, I hope that you shred your check for security -- but that's besides the point. The point is that Mobile Check Capture is a killer technology that's incredibly useful.

PayPal will be demonstrating the new technology at Innovate 2010, its second annual developer’s conference which runs October 26-27, 2010 in San Francisco.

Tip: Jason Perlow

Update: Our own Larry Dignan notes that the technology that makes photo check depositing possible originated after the attacks on 9/11:

It was during those few days immediately 9/11 that the government grounded all flights over the United States. That included the daily flights that transported paper checks between banks and processing centers and the federal reserve... Passed in 2004, legislation known as Check Clearing for the 21st Century, or Check 21, required all banks to clear checks using Check 21 by 2010.