Did you ever see the beginning of the movie GoodFellas? I can't relate here what went on (too graphic) but the point was -- PAY ME! So here comes Amazon Cotton Tail hopping down the commerce trail expecting somehow to deal itself into the online payments game. Unfortunately, that trail was blazed by PayPal a long time ago. PayPal is simply ingrained into consumers' hands -- and retailers' heads -- across the world. Not to say Amazon won't get -- and doesn't get -- its fair share, but among Google, Amazon, and PayPal there isn't much room at the trough because PayPal already has gobbled up the gravy.

So why can't Amazon beat PayPal? Certainly Amazon has been successful providing infrastructure and payment services to retailers. But what about consumers? Land Grab! Well, that already happened. Ask anyone if they have an Amazon account to send or receive money. You guessed it: none. And starting from scratch is going to be a major challenge, as most online payment users already have and will maintain a PayPal account because of its ubiquity.

So why do we care that Amazon is announcing its own payment scheme. Well, I don't personally and I suspect many, many more won't either. What about eBay and its huge customer base? Correct -- all PayPal users. Amazon would severely hurt its retail business if it required all of its purchases to be done through its payment services. It's not like an eBay, where individuals are exchanging money.

So does Amazon have any chance in the Wallet Wars? Not without some very unique relationships. Amazon has proven that its closed-systems approach -- like with the Kindle -- just doesn't work well. So unless the execs over there get out of their own way and figure out how to scale and expand the payments game for consumers, the War will never even be fought because it was already won long before Amazon ever knew there was one.

Bill Glynn is managing director of Collective IQ (www.collectiveiq.com).
He's also the author of Left On Red: How to Ignite, Leverage and Build Visionary Organization.