Amazon pulls plug on Amazon Wallet

“Amazon will pull the plug on its Amazon Wallet beta on Wednesday, six months after it launched the limited mobile-wallet effort,” Steven Musil reports for CNET. “The Internet retail giant began informing users by email on Tuesday that it is shutting down the beta and removing the app from app stores. Amazon did not address whether or when Amazon Wallet would return. Users will still be able to use any gift, loyalty or membership cards store on the app, but wallet balances will no longer be updated after Wednesday, meaning users will have to track their own balances.”

“Quietly launched in late July, Amazon Wallet allowed users to store and manage gift, store and loyalty cards for in-person and online transactions involving the cards. However, unlike its competitors in the mobile payments niche, the app could not be used to manage credit or debit cards,” Musil reports. “Google was one of the first companies to offer mobile payments, with a service called Wallet, but the offering failed to gain traction with consumers.”

Musil reports, “Apple upped the ante in September with Apple Pay, which allows consumers to make credit card purchases with an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. Less than 72 hours after its debut, 1 million credit cards had been used on the service.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Another one bites the dust.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]