Recent developments at Apple signal the company plans to offer in-store mobile payments for physical goods, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Discussions about Apple's interest in handling payments for physical goods and services on its devices have taken place between Eddy Cue, Apple iTunes and App Store chief, and technology industry executives, the Journal reported (subscription required). Also, Jennifer Bailey, who was running Apple's online stores, is now building a payment business within Apple.

Apple's in-store payment service would leverage the base of iPhone and iPad users plus credit card information held on file by iTunes; Apple is said to have more credit card numbers on file than any other company.

The payment service would be enhanced with other Apple technologies such as iBeacon location sensors and the newest iPhone's  fingerprint reader for security, the Wall Street Journal suggested.

A further sign of Apple's interest in in-store mobile payments is the publication of its patent filing for connecting wireless devices to POS terminals using NFC, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

At least one observer believes the focus on Apple's possible payments play misreads the company's intent — to make the iPhone a platform for physical retail. Apple is more interested in the $2.4 trillion market for physical retail than in the $180 billion e-commerce market, according to Tom Noyes in a FinVentures blog posting.

"The business case for Apple is not making 10-30bps in payments," Noyes wrote. "It is about making 500bps in advertising and retailer services. It is about cementing the iPhone's role as a platform for both consumer and retailer ... adding services, adding transactions, adding loyalty and creating a behavior chain with Apple at the core."

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