06 October 2009 | Author: J. Cave SEO Consultant

Amazon payment services go mobile

Mobile payment services received a boost yesterday as retail giant Amazon launched Amazon Mobile Payment, a service which will put it in direct competition with PayPal, iTunes and Google Checkout.

The new Amazon Mobile Payments System will mean that mobile merchants and developers will be able to incorporate Amazon's one click checkout technology to easily accept payments through smartphones and mobile devices.

One of the first companies to jump on board this new technology is Handmark, a mobile content company that provides ringtones, video games for smartphones and other mobile downloads. Handmark currently operates around 50 mobile content and smart phone application stores.

While the default payment for those using Handmark will continue to be credit cards, customers will now also be given a larger number of payment options such as Google Checkout, Paypal and Amazon Mobile Payments.

While there are a number of mobile payment solutions already on the market, it's likely that many merchants will move to Amazon's service in order to offer their customers a familiar checkout system for payments.

Currently Applestore is leading the way for apps and mobile downloads, however, with companies like Handmark quickly signing up with Amazon, it seems Apple could have a major competitor in the mobile downloads market.

Having already launched an Amazon App and Kindle App for both the iPhone and iPod touch, Amazon is aggressively going after the mobile downloads market and Apple will have to fight hard to keep the retail giant at bay.