To process payments from mobile devices

Oct 5, 2009 13:49 GMT  ·  By

Amazon Payments has announced today the introduction of a new service, the Amazon Mobile Payments Service (Amazon MPS), aimed at offering developers, merchants and distributors of software solutions for mobile phones the possibility to easily process payments made from mobile phones. At the same time, the company also states that the new service is meant to enable it to extend Amazon’s 1-Click checkout experience to more customers.

The new Amazon MPS will offer Amazon customers the chance to use their accounts to make purchases directly from their mobile phones. At the same time, developers and merchants can offer their customers a payment option they are already familiar with, not to mention the presence of Amazon’s 1-Click checkout with the new service, the company adds. More details on how to use the new service can be found here.

“We’re pleased to make it easier for our Amazon Payments developers and merchants to extend mobile payment options and the ease of 1-Click checkout to their customers,” said Howard Gefen, director of Amazon Mobile Payments. “Amazon customers can now also make purchases on third party sites without needing to set up separate payment accounts—they simply use the payment information in their existing Amazon accounts.”

Users will have to sign in from an Amazon MPS enabled device, after which they can make purchases directly from the handset. According to the company, a simple set of API’s is available for developers to offer the payment option to their customers, while those who already use Amazon Payments on their website can now add the new mobile payment option without too much hassle. The new service from the company is built on the same flexible, reliable, and secure infrastructure as Amazon Payments (which is already used for PC based checkout by many developers and businesses).

“A seamless purchasing process is one of the most important aspects to a great mobile shopping experience,” said Paul Reddick, CEO of Handmark, a leading creator and distributor of mobile applications and services, and an initial user of the Amazon Mobile Payments Service. “The Amazon Mobile Payments Service delivers a fast, easy and familiar mobile payment option millions of people trust and we are pleased to be one of the first to extend it broadly to our customers and partners.”