Evan Schuman

Amazon.com has been one of the most active companies working to remove friction from payments. This summer, it reached the finish line, removing payments entirely from a portion of its catalog.

When Apple revealed that Starbucks plans to accept Apple Pay in its U.S. stores, the move spoke less to Apple's persuasiveness and more to the fallout of the country's ongoing shift to EMV security.

In a new book, PayPal founder and former exec Elon Musk argues that big thinking is missing from PayPal and payment startups. Put another way, NFC and QR codes won't repair the global economy. The problem is Musk's big-picture approach is it would challenge interoperability and ultimately stagnate the very industry he's trying to save.

When Cumberland Farms said this month that it had processed $1 billion worth of gas via its decoupled debit card over the course of nearly three years, it was the latest example of the power of the decoupled debit card. And yet, other than Target's RED card, decoupled debit has barely moved beyond the convenience and petroleum segment.

Like everywhere else on the planet, African retailers are struggling with the mobile payment chicken-and-egg dilemma — how can they accept mobile payments if consumers aren't using the technology?

As quick-service restaurants increase their support for buy-online-pickup-in-store—as Starbucks did last week and as Taco Bell is doing this week—they are pushing customer convenience and reduced lines.

Klarna—a receive-now pay-later company—has added American Express to its supported payment methods in Sweden, Finland, Germany and the United States, as of Thursday, the company announced.

The Alibaba Group is pouring more money into Indian payments powerhouse Paytm, with one report putting the investment at the equivalent of about $680 million, giving Alibaba control of 20% of Paytm's parent company, One97 Communications.

When Samsung Pay launched in the U.S. on Monday, it did so on schedule but with less issuer support than had been expected, with only Bank of America, Citi, American Express and U.S. Bank announced as participants.

South Korean purchases via Samsung Pay have topped the equivalent of $30 million U.S. as of Sept. 20, according to the first figures released by Samsung.