<p>Previously it took the might of a company like Microsoft to try to launch a universal log-in system like its Microsoft Passport, the predecessor to Windows Live ID. This week, Amazon flexed its muscles by launching a similar program called Login with Amazon. And while it currently appears to be targeted at mobile apps and games, could it be aiming to eventually become a universal login system for ecommerce websites?</p><p>The new service enables Amazon customers to login to apps, games, and websites using their Amazon credentials. Third-party developers can use the service at no cost to them "to easily reduce sign-in friction for their customers, leading to higher engagement and order conversion." Customers can choose to share certain attributes of their Amazon account profile with apps, games, and websites that use Login with Amazon.</p><p>Amazon kicked off the new service with its subsidiaries Zappos and Woot, boasting that Zappos saw 40 percent of its new customers choose to sign-in to Zappos.com with an Amazon account. And, it said, "Woot found that new customers picked Login with Amazon two times more often than any other social login on their site, and those customers had the highest rate of order conversion."</p><p>So will Amazon extend its login service to independent shopping carts and ecommerce platforms such as Bigcommerce or Shopify? An Amazon.com spokesperson responded to our inquiry, "We don't have anything to announce at this point."</p><p><a href="http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y13/m05/i30/s02">Keep reading...</a></p>