Apple Almost Bought Which Mobile Payments Giant?

Sources close to Apple are cited in a new report from Re/code indicating that Apple almost purchased one of the world’s leading mobile payments companies.

According to the report in question, Apple came close to making a bid for Square.

We’re told that Google was interested as well, but even with such large potential suitors at their door, Square seemed happy to remain independent.

In February, Kyle Spencer, a research analyst writing for Seeking Alpha, publicly stated that Apple will likely enter the mobile payments arena soon.

“There is considerable anecdotal evidence that Apple is preparing to invade the mobile payments space,” Spencer wrote. “A quick perusal of the company’s recent patent filings leads me to conclude that Apple’s engineers are indeed converging on a large scale mobile payments solution to rival PayPal.”

One of the patents cited describes an infrastructure of network-based clearinghouses “for maintaining the anonymity of a plurality of customers and protecting their private and financial data.”

Apple, which currently has an in-store mobile payments platform for its retail employees, has long demonstrated a strong interest in mobile payments. As the WSJ reported earlier this year, Eddy Cue, Apple’s iTunes and App Store chief, has already begun taking meetings with key industry executives to discuss Apple’s interest in developing a comprehensive mobile payments solution.

Apple Almost Bought Which Mobile Payments Giant?