Amazon pulls the plug on its first Apple Pay competitor

Amazon has pulled the plug on its Apple Pay rival. Photo: Apple

Amazon has pulled the plug on its Apple Pay rival. Photo: Apple

Amazon jumped into the mobile payments market a few months before Apple Pay launched, but the company is already pulling the plug on its first mobile wallet solution: Amazon Wallet.

Emails were sent out to customers this week from Amazon, alerting them that the service would be shutting down soon. The service was still in beta but it came preinstalled on the Amazon Fire Phone. The move comes just six months after Amazon Wallet made its debut.

Amazon has already requested the app be removed from Google Play and the Amazon Appstore. Unlike Apple Pay, which allows users to add debit and credit cards, Amazon Wallet only allowed users to add gift, loyalty, and membership cards to the mobile wallet to use for in-store or online purchases.

“We have learned a great deal from the introduction of the Wallet and will look for ways to apply these lessons in the future as we continue to innovate on behalf of our customers,” Amazon spokesman Tom Cook told CNET in a statement.

If you have been using Amazon Wallet you will still be able to use any gift cards preloaded onto the wallet, but you will have to keep track of the balance yourself.

Amazon has left the door open to return to mobile payments, so we doubt this will be the last we see from them. With Google Wallet and Apple Pay heating up already, the Internet giant better be quick on its follow up to Amazon Wallet or it could get left behind once Samsung unveils its offerings for the mobile payments war.