Is Apple Courting Square to Enter Mobile Payments Business?

Apple (AAPL) reportedly may tee up a mobile payments business to leverage its huge storehouse of customer information and already is interviewing executive candidates to head product and business development.

According to a Re/code report, the vendor apparently is keen to capitalize on the hundreds of millions of credit card accounts it has on file from its iTunes customers, looking for a money-making place in the middle of those mobile transactions.

Apple has charged Jennifer Bailey, its E-Commerce head, to shepherd the effort, the report said, citing sources. So far, Bailey is said to have interviewed a number of candidates for the two open positions. The timing of Apple rolling out a mobile payments business still is unclear.

The vendor reportedly kicked around the idea with PayPal earlier this year, according to Re/code, and the two companies still may be trying to figure out if there’s a partnering opportunity.

Of course, one way Apple could launch itself into the mobile payments business is through an acquisition, although the vendor has shown itself over time to shun large M&A deals. Still, lending more credence to Apple’s interest in the mobile payment business is new word that the company has investigated buying Square, the mobile payments startup launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

Google (GOOG), eBay (EBAY) and PayPal also were said to have looked at buying Square, which reportedly lost $100 million last year and is rumored to have run through half of the $340 million it has secured in equity financing since 2009, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Square’s spokespeople have denied that the company has any interest in selling itself or that it’s been involved in acquisition talks with a possible suitor.

About 1 million merchants accept credit card payments through Square’s credit card reader, which affixes to a smartphone or tablet. Last year the company processed some $20 billion in transactions, which generated about $550 million in sales but tiny margins, the Journal said.