Amazon Will Introduce Credit Card Reader

Amazon was reported being working on a credit card reader, in hope to take on Square, PayPal and iZettle. According to the leaked inventory document, office supplies store Staples has taken stock of an Amazon Card Reader, alongside competitors from PayPal, Square and a Staples-branded card reader.

Such card readers are connected to a smartphone to allow anyone accepting payment via credit card. The same inventory document reveals that the card reader is scheduled to be launched on sale in the United States in a couple of weeks for just $9.99. The largest online retailer has been making moves within the payments space, allowing such retailers and services like Kickstarter using Amazon as a payment processor.

Given that Amazon accounts for 237 million active users, the company boasts one of the largest collection of accounts with credit card data, rivaled by Apple and some other companies. The rumors are that Amazon is going to launch a new payments system for shops and stores on the basis of its Kindle Fire tablets. The later will act as the local retailer’s till system that processes payments directly via Amazon just like it operates its Amazon Marketplace with 3rd-party sellers.

Amazon was recently reported to launch a new “Amazon Wallet” app for Android. The app can be downloaded both via its own Amazon Appstore and the Google Play store and allows people to store and organize gift cards and store loyalty cards.

In the meantime, industry experts point out that the company was noticed looking at developing a person-to-person (P2P) payment system for a while via its own Amazon Local Commerce team. These conclusions were made from the job postings that specifically refer to person-to-person payments as one of the responsibilities.

At the moment, it is unclear whether the payments system and credit card reader will be launched outside the United States, as it also has a potential to compete with iZettle – the largest and most well-known European mobile credit card payments service. The other plans of the company remained unclear, and the official confirmation of the credit card reader launch didn’t follow. The company has been keeping silence in response to the media requests for comment thus far.