This is a confusing headline. What it really means, I think, is simply that you can now do a recurring transaction against Amazon as a payment type. So they're not really helping "merchants do subscriptions" like other services in that space do. Merchants would already need to know how to handle a recurring/subscription transaction. They could now just add an Amazon payment method next to CC's and PayPal where before they couldn't.
Very interesting and much anticipated move. The title is slightly misleading. What they offer is an alternative to PayPal with recurring.
If you are running an eCommerce site that is built on an independent platform, it really does add more value to accept payments via Amazon just like PayPal as an alternate payment method.
Will be interesting to watch if they expand the service to a global market or keep it restricted to US only approach. PayPal's strength is in making it a global play, especially in markets where trust factor / dispute resolution is important.
My first thought was that it would be nifty to pay with Amazon, but my second thought is that I would rather give a less trusted party my credit card number than have to sign in with Amazon to do it (and have to be wary of phishing). Getting a new credit card is easy, and I am fairly confident that nothing overly bad will happen when I use my credit card on a website.
What they charge as a 'fee' for each CC transaction will determine what competition in the online payment space will look like over the next few years...
