An Amazon card reader to rival the likes of Square may well be imminent. According to a copy of a recent inventory from Staples (a US office supplies store), obtained by 9to5Mac, the mobile-based credit card reader looks likely to go on sale on 12 August and retail for $9.99.

Square is currently top dog in the US card reader market, but PayPal also plays in the space.

Amazon recently launched its own mobile wallet application on Amazon Appstore and Google Play, which will no doubt interact with the hardware.

Amazon Wallet allows users to store and organise gift and loyalty cards, which can be scanned or typed in. They then become available as a barcode, QR code, text or image, which enables them to be redeemed at point-of-sale.

Listed as a beta app, Amazon Wallet also comes pre-installed on new Fire smartphones.