As excitement mounts over Apple’s September 9 press event, in which the computer behemoth is expected to unveil the iPhone 6, several news outlets are reporting that American Express, Visa and MasterCard may be partnering with the company to create a mobile wallet on the latest iPhone upgrade.

The original iPhone

As noted by tech site CNET, this past Sunday Recode reported that American Express was just one of several companies that has agreed to team up with Apple on the newest version of the iPhone.

And on Monday Bloomberg reported that Visa and MasterCard are getting into the act as well. CNET writes that both of these credit card companies could enable mobile payment in the iPhone 6 with near-field communication, a set of standards for short-distance wireless transmission.

Though NFC technology has been “around for years,” says CNET, referring to the many NFC-enabled credit card terminals at Walgreen stores in the U.S, “awareness and usage remain low.”

Given Apple’s predominance in the mobile market — CNET says that it “already holds credit card data for about 800 million iTunes account holders” — mobile payments “are poised to break into the mainstream if Apple and the iPhone 6 get it right.”

So far MasterCard has declined to comment on the matter to CNET while Visa and American Express have yet to confirm or refute the rumors.

Source: CNET Apple teams with top credit cards for iPhone 6 payments, reports say

Photo: Flickr user Andrew, CC BY-SA 2.0