After Apple, Google and Microsoft, Amazon in a mobile wallet rumor

Tech giants Apple, Google and Microsoft are all rumored to be working on solutions for contactless payment based on an NFC chip and dedicated software applications that should turn your phone into a secure e-wallet and now Amazon is said to be joining the party soon. The company won’t make phones, of course, but software and cloud solutions to support new payment services.

Their Amazon Payments department is rumored to be mulling a service that would enable physical retail outlets wireless payments from customers using Amazon’s dedicated app on their mobile phone. Plus, a NFC-based marketing service is alleged to be in the works as well. The decision whether to launch the service should be reached in the next three to five months, sources say. Bloomberg has more details:

Amazon, based in Seattle, aims to parlay its dominance in Internet retailing into mobile commerce. It’s also keeping in step with other technology leaders such as Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG), which have introduced or are said to be planning software, devices or services with NFC. The value of mobile transactions is expected to surge more than sevenfold by 2014, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

What caught my attention is this mention of marketing service to support the new payment solution:

For instance, a consumer shopping for jeans who can’t find the right size in a retail store might be able to tap a handset against the item’s NFC tag to locate the correct item for order through Amazon.com.

The publication reminds that in addition to Apple, Google and Microsoft, carriers AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless partnered on a joint mobile wallet service called Iris. Amazon could be a force to be reckoned with in the mobile wallet arena. They’re already the largest retailer on the web and recently began selling Android apps. Amazon has also beaten Apple and Google to the music punch by unveiling a cloud locker for music. Like PayPal, the Amazon Payments service allows people to send and receive money online or through their mobile phones and their one-click payment solution is processing countless orders on Amazon’s own website as well as on online stores of outside partners.