11 Unexpected Disruptors in Payments

September 21, 2012 2:46 PM

Angry piggy bank guards US dollars

Don Bayley/Getty Images/iStockphoto

(Image: ThinkStock)

Groupon

Groupon, a provider of daily merchant offers, just launched a mobile card reader with low pricing and fast payments. It keeps its prices low by relying on its existing sales force instead of working with independent sales organizations.

Facebook

When Facebook went public, its regulatory filings revealed that 15% of its revenue came from payments. It has money transmitter licenses in many states, and most recently is providing tools to make mobile payment acceptance easier. (Image: ShutterStock)

Fiserv

Fiserv, a payments-industry insider, is also acting as a disruptor by selling its new SpotPay card reader through banks instead of working with independent sales organizations.

An attendee tries a Nintendo Co. Wii U game console at the Tokyo Game Show 2012 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. The show will be held through Sept. 23. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Nintendo

Nintendo is readying its next Wii for release Nov. 18. The game console's controller has a built-in Near Field Communication chip, a common component for mobile wallets. And although Nintendo hasn't made the chip's purpose clear, it has developed a new loyalty system for digital games sales. (Image: Bloomberg News)

A Starbucks Corp., sign is displayed outside a coffee shop in London, U.K., on Thursday, Dec, 1, 2011. Starbucks Corp., the world's largest coffee-shop operator, plans to add 200 more drive-through stores across the U.K. in an expansion that will create 5,000 jobs. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Starbucks

As other mobile-payment systems have lagged or failed, Starbucks' system has grown. Its recent investment in Square shows the coffee company is committed to handling payments in new ways. (Image: Bloomberg News)

BitInstant

Bitcoin is still a fringe currency, but a company called BitInstant plans to take the alternative currency mainstream with the introduction of a prepaid card that lets consumers spend bitcoins at any merchant that accepts MasterCard. (Image: ShutterStock)

fiber optical with earth on high technology background

kaili wu/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Dwolla

Dwolla's programming tools let banks use its FiSync system to make transactions as fast as a card payment but as cheaply as an automated clearing house transfer. (Image: ThinkStock)

The Target Corp. logo is seen on a shopping cart at a store under construction in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount retailer, raised its full-year earnings forecast after warm weather helped drive sales in the first quarter. Photographer: Tim Boyle/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** John Griffith

Tim Boyle/Bloomberg

Target

Target may not have painted a bulls-eye on the payments industry yet, but it has partnered with disruptors like Starbucks and shopkick, proving itself an ally to new entrants. (Image: Bloomberg News)

Home Depot

Home Depot doesn't have its own payment product, but it provided PayPal with a testing ground for its cardless point of sale system. (Image: ShutterStock)

Square, a credit card reader made for smartphones, is plugged into an Apple Inc. iPhone for a photograph in New York, U.S., on Monday, Oct. 25, 2010. Square Inc.'s mobile-payment technology allows smartphone users to make credit card payments and the availability of funding for new ventures. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg

Jin Lee/Bloomberg

Square

Square may no longer seem unexpected, but the company was at first ridiculed by industry insiders for a product that seemed almost too simple to succeed. The company now handles $8 billion in payments on an annualized basis. (Image: Bloomberg News)

Microsoft

All eyes may be on Apple, but Microsoft is taking the payments plunge with its new Windows 8 phones. (Image: ShutterStock)

Payment processing

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