Is Amazon launching a credit card reader?

A tablet, a phone, a book subscription service? The last few years have proved that the answer to the question ‘Does Amazon want to make–‘ is almost always, ‘HELL, YES.’

So the headline of this post probably isn’t that much of a mystery. It looks like the company is indeed gearing up to sell a credit card reader, if a leaked Staples document is to be believed.The internal memo, which 9to5Mac has published images of, clearly lists an ‘Amazon Card Reader’ alongside readers from Paypal and Staples, and Casio cash registers.

The site says that Staples will be advertising the reader from 12 August, so it could be in the shops in a couple of weeks – although probably only on the other side of the Atlantic for now. It will cost $9.99 (around £6).

This follows Amazon’s announcement last week of its digital payments app, Amazon Wallet, which is available from the Google Play store and comes with the new Amazon Fire phone, which went on sale on Friday in the U.S. It can’t actually be used to buy anything yet, but if it connects with an upcoming card reader, it might.

Another source apparently informed 9to5Mac that the company is working on more products to facilitate mobile payments, including a biometric fingerprint scanner. Again, I wouldn’t be surprised.

[Via Mashable]

Image via Images Money.