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Amazon reinvents retail again: Amazon is getting ready to launch another innovative retail concept store, according to GeekWire, which observed the company testing the technology of its high-tech grocery location. The idea behind the store, called Amazon Pickup, is that customers would order groceries online and then reserve a parking spot alongside the store. After arriving at a scheduled time, Amazon employees would load up the groceries, GeekWire reports. The store would also allow people to pick up groceries on foot and order in person. Amazon has not announced or acknowledged the store in the media, but it has described the concept in permit documents filed within the past year, GeekWire notes. The store is essentially the opposite of Amazon Go, another Amazon prototype where customers would walk in off the street and shop around in person, then skip the checkout when they leave.
A student is reflected in the window of an Amazon.com Inc. kiosk on the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. By the end of the year, Amazon will have staffed pickup kiosks serving more than 500,000 college students at 16 schools around the country. Students order items from Amazon.com Inc. and retrieve them from new pickup lockers. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Apple Pay and Android Pay, together at last? A Kickstarter project called Eye promises to blend the features of Apple and Android handsets in a single device. The product, as described by The Verge, is essentially an Android phone built into an iPhone case. The result is a two-screened device that has most of the guts of an Android handset, including an NFC chip; the inclusion of NFC suggests that the Eye phone/case would be able to initiate Android Pay payments. Since the case snaps onto a fully functional iPhone, it would also support Apple Pay. The Verge cautions that the Eye's maker is a new company with no prior products.
Apple Pay's brush with the law: Apple Pay has long had issues with drive-thru lanes, with McDonald's having to develop special training for employees prior to the mobile wallet's launch. With those early hiccups long gone, a new issue has emerged: Could using Apple Pay at the drive-thru be against the law? The question was raised by a Manchester resident on Twitter, and the local police responded that the only way to be sure to avoid a ticket would be to turn off the engine and apply the handbrake before reaching for the iPhone, Cornwall Live reports. The issue is a strict U.K. law that forbids phone use while operating a vehicle for any reason other than dialing the 999 emergency number, according to the report; if caught, the driver can get six points and a £200 fine.
Real penalty for virtual money: One virtual currency was allegedly a little too virtual for regulators to allow. The inventor of GemCoin, Steve Chen, has settled a lawsuit with the government, which accused Chen of running a fraud scheme; GemCoin's offices were raided in late 2015 by authorities, Ars Technica reports. In the settlement, Chen and his company agreed to pay back $51.2 million to investors plus $3.79 million in interest, and a $16.7 million penalty, according to Ars Technica.
Samsung Pay may soon be coming to markets with non-premium devices Android Community • Ida Torres Mobile payment platforms seem to be slowly but surely growing as they are opening in more markets lately. Samsung Pay is one of those platforms, but what’s slowing down its growth, aside from having to deal with various banks and financial institutions,...
e4 launches virtual ID verification service in Australia Smart Planet • Tas Bindi e4 Australia has launched its virtual biometric identity verification service targeting mid-tier lenders, non-traditional banks, and credit unions.
To ‘Pay’ or not to ‘Pay’? The choice around mobile payment Mobile Payments World • Alex Rolfe People don’t use their mobile phones to make telephone calls nearly as much as they used to. They are using them to surf the internet, send instant messages, even wake them up in the mornings. The relentless wave of mobile-inspired innovation is...
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