We were expecting some big unveilings at this year’s Innovate conference for eCommerce developers and merchants alike. However, it was bigger than we thought. Here is our take on the highlights:

1. Official launch of X.commerce toolkit to developers

This is big. It means that the people who are building the next generation if tools for merchants and consumers can now start putting ideas into code. The kit is now only available as a local machine virtual fabric, but, finally, thousands of developers( 3000+ attending live) can now start to build.

2. Facebook

This is exciting. What will be the end result? Facebook will be an X.commerce partner. This means merchants using the fabric will be able to more closely tie their stores into their Facebook. It appears they may be able to change the Facebook verbs in their applications to go beyond the Like button. They can include the Owns, Bought, Subscribed To, etc. as part of the checkout process. This seems to build on Facebook’s recent general announcements.

3. PayPal Access

PayPal access is a big deal. Basically, it will allow Merchants to have the equivalent of the Amazon one-click purchasing on their store by allowing users to sign into their PayPal account in a pop-up window. So, you won’t have to enter your information every time you visit a site because PayPal will do it for you. I’m predicting this will become extremely popular.