David Heun

Advanced encryption methods, mobile payment security and various other technologies figure to be major topics once again when the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council's participants meet this week.

As technology evolves, Square is proving its savvy by making the most of its social-media expertise. It uses Twitter not just as a highlight of CEO Jack Dorsey's resume (Dorsey co-founded the micro-blogging company) but as an effective channel for immediate sales.

Google, like its mobile-pay rival Isis, relies on phones built with Near Field Communication chips to support its mobile wallet. So the growing number of NFC-equipped phones should give the Google Wallet a strong boost — shouldn't it?

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council plans to recruit more soldiers in its ongoing war against fraudsters and cybercrooks. A new program allows any qualified individual to become a certified PCI Professional.

Google, like its mobile-pay rival Isis, relies on phones built with Near Field Communication chips to support its mobile wallet. So the growing number of NFC-equipped phones should give the Google Wallet a strong boost — shouldn't it?

Acculynk says it has hit "an absolute home run" in completing an acquisition that brings its online PIN-debit technology to small and midsize merchants.

PayPal's deal to receive point of sale payments over Discover's network may not be as beneficial for Discover's offerings, particularly its Pulse PIN-debit network, as it is for PayPal's. But it's still a good deal for Discover.

Awareness of contactless card payments in the UK has nearly doubled in the past year, resulting in more than a million payments per month, according to research that provides plenty of food for thought for the U.S. and other countries where such cards are available.

SCVNGR's LevelUp, which announced a charitable-donation option today, is not the first to spot a link between charities and mobile spending and rewards. Shopkick's mobile rewards app began life in 2009 as CauseWorld, which had a strong focus on donating any rewards earned to charities.

Google Wallet is under increasing pressure — though the mobile wallet has been in consumers' hands for over a year, Google still has fewer issuer partners than its rival Isis, and with the Merchant Customer Exchange wallet on the horizon, Google now faces competition from the very retailers it seeks to attract.

Adding payment acceptance to a website could be as easy as embedding a YouTube video or sharing a link on Facebook.

Apple's iWallet is much anticipated but, due to Apple's notorious secrecy, still very hard to picture. A new patent lends some slight clarity to the company's mobile-payment vision.

With their "Project Oscar" mobile payment joint venture remaining uncertain because of a regulator's investigations, major European telcos are turning to traditional payment companies to get back in the mobile payments game. MasterCard's new five-year agreement with Everything Everywhere is a case in point.

MasterCard continued to expand its partnerships with European telcos, announcing an exclusive, five-year agreement with Everything Everywhere to develop mobile and digital payment applications.

The pace of innovation in mobile payments may slow in light of Apple Inc.'s favorable $1.05 billion verdict in a patent lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co. over mobile phone technology.

The number of open retail credit card accounts in the U.S. has reached heights not seen since the end of 2009.

Small business owners in Europe certainly won't have a shortage of mobile payment options to choose from, as more companies enter the market locally and from the U.S.

In the coming months, moviegoers with Interac debit cards will pay for their tickets and popcorn with a tap of a card at any of 134 Cineplex Entertainment theaters throughout Canada.

It was inevitable that Gen X consumers would overtake Baby Boomers as the generation most often using credit cards. But their habits may leave card brands unsure of how to develop products for even younger consumers in the future.

Nearly a third of acquirers surveyed still view mobile payments as a threat.