On the eve of the CTIA Wireless mobile trade show, MasterCard—one of the leading credit-card companies behind fledgling mobile-wallet-payment systems (including Google Wallet)—announced its own service, PayPass Wallet.

PayPass Wallet will work with smart phones that support wireless NFC (near-field communication) technology as well as other tablets and computing devices, to pay for products and services at store registers or over the Internet. On a smart phone, tablet, or other NFC-equipped device, you’ll be able to pay for items at the checkout counter by “bumping” your device against a terminal. But you can also log into PayPass Wallet to order products from any computer.

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–MasterCard Inc. is ratcheting up the battle for control of consumers’ “digital wallets” with a new service that aims to simplify how consumers pay for goods online and on mobile devices, an area that rival Visa Inc. is already targeting.

The Purchase, N.Y.-based credit-card company said Monday it is rolling out PayPass Wallet Services, a suite of software products for use by merchants, card-issuing banks and their customers. AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and Barnes & Noble Inc. are among the first merchants that will incorporate the service into their websites by including a “PayPass checkout” button on their sites, MasterCard said. American Airlines will also integrate the technology into its mobile application.

Young and affluent consumers are driving adoption of mobile payments technology worldwide, according to a study released Monday by MasterCard.

The MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index singled out Singapore, Canada, the U.S., Kenya and South Korea as the markets most ready to adopt mobile payments.

MasterCard, the payments processing network, unveiled new digital wallet services designed to enable banks and retailers to take advantage of anticipated growth in electronic payments.

Under the name PayPass, MasterCard is creating a unified network that will enable merchants to accept digital payments made by consumers either electronically in stores or online using a smartphone, computer or tablet.

MasterCard WorldWide announced a digital wallet on Monday that consumers will be able to use for purchases in stores, on the Web and on their mobile phones.

The global credit-card company’s entry into digital wallets will tie into its PayPass point-of-sale system, with nearly 500,000 locations around the world where consumers can tap a card or phone with NFC (near-field communications) to make a purchase. But with the new offering, called PayPass Wallet Services, MasterCard will also allow third parties to create payment systems under their own brands.