Amazon had decided to take on PayPal with today’s release of a new service that streamlines a number of its payment solutions to make it easier for customers to transact with online merchants. 

Called “Login and Pay with Amazon”, the service allows customers of participating companies to purchase items using their Amazon account information.

The solution, which the company says works on tablet, mobile, and desktop devices, would put Amazon, with its significant customer base and billing systems, in direct competition with PayPal. Amazon says online merchants get simple, low pricing for payment services and fraud protection from Amazon at no extra fee. 

Tom Taylor, vice president of Amazon Payments noted in a statement that his company has 215 million active customer accounts. 

“Login and Pay with Amazon enables companies to make millions of our customers their customers by inviting online shoppers with Amazon credentials to access their account information safely and securely with a single login,” Taylor said. 

Amazon notes that its existing infrastructure will allow merchants who use the service to offer their customers the ability to offer mature service such as managing and tracking orders, purchase history detail, special discounts, instant access to shipping addresses and payment methods.

Developers can implement Login and Pay with Amazon with existing websites using a set of widgets and APIs to embed on the site and integrate with back-end systems.

All Things Digital’s Jason Del Ray noted yesterday that the services aren’t really new. Amazon has been offering much of the functionality in yesterday’s announcement for over a year. However, bringing it all together into one product is new. 

For a look at how it all works, have a look at the video below: