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The Amazon.com Inc. Fire Phone is displayed for a photograph during an event in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Wednesday, June 18, 2014 Amazon.com Inc. jumped into the crowded smartphone market with its own handset called Fire Phone, ramping up competition with Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Photographer: Mike Kane/Bloomberg
Mike Kane/Bloomberg
The payment capabilities in the new Fire Phone are just the latest in a series of products that only Amazon could pull off. The e-commerce giant's offerings range from basic services to its own digital currency. (Image: Bloomberg News)
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The Amazon.com Inc. Fire Phone is displayed for a photograph during an event in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Wednesday, June 18, 2014 Amazon.com Inc. jumped into the crowded smartphone market with its own handset called Fire Phone, ramping up competition with Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Photographer: Mike Kane/Bloomberg
Mike Kane/Bloomberg

Firefly

The Fire Phone has a dedicated button for its Firefly shopping system, which uses the device's camera and mic to identify 70 million physical products and many more digital ones that can be purchased on Amazon.com. (Image: Bloomberg News)
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An employee walks over a logo on the floor of Amazon.com Inc.'s fulfillment centers in Rugeley, U.K., on Monday, Dec. 2, 2013. Online retailers in the U.K. are anticipating their busiest day as shoppers flush with end-of-month pay-checks seek Christmas deals on the Web. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Login and Pay with Amazon

This online service allows other e-commerce sites to welcome new customers without requiring them to set up an account. Shoppers can use their existing Amazon accounts to login and pay. (Image: Bloomberg News)
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Amazon Coins

Amazon's one-year-old digital currency can be used to buy digital content on devices such as its Kindle Fire tablets. Amazon also gave away some Amazon Coins in a bundle deal as part of its promotion of the new Fire TV media streaming and gaming device.
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The Twitter Inc. application and logo are displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone 5s and iPad Air in this arranged photograph in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, April 25, 2014. Twitter Inc. is expected to release earnings figures on April 29. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

#AmazonCart

The #AmazonCart feature, launched in May, lets shoppers begin the purchase process over Twitter. When users see a product link in a tweet, they can reply with the #AmazonCart hashtag to add the item to their Amazon.com shopping cart. (Image: Bloomberg News)
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The Amazon.com Inc. Prime logo is displayed on computer screens for a photograph in Tiskilwa, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. Amazon.com Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on April 24. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Subscriptions

Adding to its list of merchant services, Amazon launched subscription-based payments on June 9. This feature, which is part of Login and Pay with Amazon, allows merchants to set up recurring transactions linked to a shopper's Amazon.com account. (Image: Bloomberg News)
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An employee loads a truck with boxes to be shipped at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. U.S. retailers are extending deals into Cyber Monday and beyond to try to sustain a 13 percent gain in Thanksgiving weekend sales. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Partner Payments

Amazon's fulfillment service lets partners choose their own payment methods for items sold and shipped from Amazon's warehouses. BitPay enables these merchants to accept Bitcoin, even though Amazon.com does not accept the digital currency directly. (Image: Bloomberg News)
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An Amazon.com Inc. game controller sits on display after a news conference in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, April 2, 2014. The world's largest Internet retailer unveiled Fire TV, a television-viewing device for streaming movies, television shows and other video from the Web. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg
Jin Lee/Bloomberg

Game On!

Amazon also supports in-app purchases for games that allow players to buy digital content after they start playing. Game developers can also use Amazon's website to list in-game items for sale. (Image: Bloomberg News)
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The Amazon.com Inc. website is displayed on a computer screen for a photograph in Tiskilwa, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. Amazon.com Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on April 24. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Rewards as Cash

Amazon lets users of its Amazon.com Visa card and several other credit cards spend their reward points directly on its site. Customers are told at checkout how many points they can apply to a given purchase. (Image: Bloomberg News)
Where owner Jeff Bezos takes Amazon will have significant tax implications.
The silhouette of Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., is seen as he unveils the Fire Phone during an event at Fremont Studios in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Wednesday, June 18, 2014 Amazon.com Inc. jumped into the crowded smartphone market with its own handset called Fire Phone, ramping up competition with Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Photographer: Mike Kane/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Jeff Bezos
Mike Kane/Bloomberg

Planning Ahead

Amazon's other plans for payments are steadily leaking. In January, the company posted a job listing for someone who could develop a person-to-person payment system. It is also reportedly interested in turning its Kindle e-readers into mobile point of sale devices. Pictured: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (Image: Bloomberg News)

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