Amazon's latest payment technology, PayPhrase, lets customers buy from Amazon and affiliated merchants by using two or more words and a four-digit password. The technology, which was announced last Thursday, accesses information stored in the customer's Amazon account to pay for purchases and to identify the shipping address. Like PayPal, PayPhrase is designed to work on Amazon's own site and on third-party sites that use the payment technology.
Amazon wants PayPhrase to compete directly with eBay's PayPal and Google Checkout.
Analysts worry that the combination of a memorable phrase and a simple four-digit PIN may not be secure enough for financial transactions, even if Amazon promises to freeze an account when the wrong information is entered too many times. More ways to spend money in the airways