According to latest rumors, Apple has partnerered with major payment networks including American Express, Visa, and MasterCard to implement a new digital wallet payment system that will allow iPhone 6 owners to use their mobile phones for payments at brick-and-mortar stores.

The company is expected to officially unveil the new payments system alongside the iPhone 6 at its well anticipated press event, which is to be held at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts in Apple's home city of Cupertino, California, the same venue where the Macintosh PC was originally unveiled in 1984.

The new system would use Apple's Touch ID feature in conjunction with the near-field communication (NFC) technology, a short-distance wireless technology that enables mobile payments with a tap, to authenticate purchases.

For Apple, introducing its own iPhone-based payments product seems logical, as the company already holds credit card data for about 800 million iTunes account holders. The move would not only keep users within the company's ecosystem (which is very Apple-like), but would also help the company generate more revenue.

However, the iPhone maker likely needs approval from competent authorities (the credit card network or the bank that issued a card) before these cards could be used for mobile payments. Also, getting individual merchants to support the technology would be another hurdle for the company to overcome to get its new offering off the ground.

Rival Google is already offering a similar service through Google Wallet, which the company launched back in 2011. In addition, other companies like Isis have also been offering NFC payments.

Also read: Everything you need to know about NFC technology