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PayPal shareholders will have loved the news of the company’s deal with Apple this past week, because it sent PayPal shares up to an all-time high. Many analysts predict that the industry can expect more of the same from both PayPal and Apple as companies compete to secure a larger share of an ever-increasing digital payment pie.

The deal allows for Apple users in North America, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, France, Israel and Australia to use PayPal as a payment option in Apple’s digital channels such as iTunes, Apple Music, iBooks and the App Store. PayPal is set to be integrated across a number of Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch and Apple TV.

For those users with an Apple ID, they simply have to select PayPal as their payment method in their account settings, to ensure all future payments are charged to their PayPal account. PayPal will also be integrating with Siri for verbal payment.

Apart from credit and credit cards, PayPal, despite not being available in a lot of countries - in the Asian region for example - is seen as the most used method of digital payment worldwide. That certainly applies in North America and Europe and the Apple deal will certainly add to that.

The Apple/PayPal deal demonstrates: one, that these sorts of partnerships are going to be commonplace, especially as the market consolidates; two, that Apple will partner with anyone if it leads to more sales; and three, that PayPal is continuing on in its global path to dominate the payment industry.

More than that though, the deal may help to console prospective customers that are still hesitant about adding credit or debit cards as a digital payment to iTunes. It will also generate additional revenue by making it easier for Apple users to start purchasing through the company’s digital channels, because they will no longer have to enter their card information each time they buy. Not having to input a credit card’s detail each time a customer purchases a product is also beneficial from a security perspective, something cited by a large portion of mobile customers as a concern.

In the short term, PayPal also benefits by getting immediate access to a tremendous revenue stream in Apple’s digital channels, with sales at the App Store alone in the fourth quarter of 2016 reaching $7 billion.

PayPal, however, may be looking long term by integrating itself into Apple’s future plans both from an operating system perspective, despite Apple Pay’s obvious home-field advantage, as well as a mobile app perspective. Integrating PayPal into future Mac OS upgrades will highlight the payment method to prospective Apple customers, as well as established users. With Apple’s massive global user base, such a partnership can only help PayPal.

Despite being a consumer-friendly move on the part of Apple in giving its user base another payment option, most analysts maintain that PayPal is the apparent winner in the deal. The market seemed to think so as well with PayPal’s same-day jump in share price.