9 New Payment Innovations from Old Companies

December 11, 2014 11:01 PM

art lamp consisting of gears and cogs

Many disruptive technologies come from startups, but just as many seem to come from companies that have been around for decades. Whether developing a new system in-house or providing a necessary proving ground for a partner, these older companies are bringing fresh innovations to the payments industry. (Image: iStock)

Tim Hortons Inc. signage is seen on the door of a restaurant in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. Tim Hortons Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marc Caira said Canadas largest coffee and doughnuts chain must succeed in the U.S. as competition brings slower growth at home. Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons, founded in 1964, has been eager to deploy cutting-edge payment technology. It offers both an interactive card from Dynamics Inc. and a mobile wallet based on Host Card Emulation, a technology that enables mobile payments from more phones. (Image: Bloomberg News)

A Nintendo Co. Wii U game console, left, and touch-screen controller are arranged for a photograph in front of a television screen in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co., Japans biggest makers of gaming devices, rose after China Daily said the worlds most-populous country may end a 12-year ban on the sale of video-game consoles. Nintendo, the creator of Super Mario, added 3.4 percent to 9,630 yen, the highest since Dec. 7, in Osaka. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg

Akio Kon/Bloomberg

Nintendo

The Japanese toy and video game company, founded in 1889, built a Near Field Communication card reader into the controller of its latest game consoles, the Wii U and the New 3DS. This technology allows users of the contactless Suica fare card to purchase downloadable games without typing a card account number. (Image: Bloomberg News)

A logo sits on an Xbox One games controller, manufactured by Microsoft Corp., during the Eurogamer Expo 2013 in London, U.K., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2013. Last year, the number of consoles in consumers' homes, including the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U, stood at 238 million, according to IHS Screen Digest. Photographer: Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg

Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg

Microsoft

Microsoft, founded in 1975, has its own unique way of selling digital games. Its customers buy stored-value cards in stores, but rather than type in a code to redeem them online, they show a QR code to the Xbox One video game console's built-in camera. Microsoft also lets gamers buy content with Bitcoin. (Image: Bloomberg News)

Amazon.com

Amazon.com, founded in 1994, may be one of the younger companies on this list but it's also been one of the more experimental when it comes to payments. The e-commerce giant maintains its own virtual currency and ties mobile payments into its range of Fire mobile devices. Its e-commerce offerings, such as Login and Pay with Amazon, extend the company's shopping cart to other merchants' sites. (Pictured: Amazon Coins)

A customer enters a Walgreen Co. store in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Friday, March 23, 2012. Walgreen Co. is scheduled to release earnings data on March 27. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

Walgreens

Walgreens, founded in 1901, is taking a fresh approach to banking, prepaid and rewards. Its Balance Financial Prepaid MasterCard combines a rewards account and a prepaid account into one card. Walgreens also places kiosks in its stores, allowing customers to manage their accounts without a PC and without a bank branch. (Image: Bloomberg News)

"Partners," a statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, sits in front of Cinderalla Castle at Magic Kingdom, part of the Walt Disney World theme park and resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 31, 2009. Walt Disney Co. said it agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc. for about $4 billion in a stock and cash transaction, gaining comic book characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man and Captain America. Photographer: Matt Stroshane/Bloomberg

Matt Stroshane/Bloomberg

Disney

The Walt Disney Co., founded in 1923, is a pioneer in wearable payments. Its MagicBands, which function as contactless payment cards, hotel keys, theme park passes and more, are used by about half of the people who visit Walt Disney World. (Image: Bloomberg News)

A Starbucks Corp. logo sits on a board outside a coffee shop in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, May 28, 2013. Starbucks, the world's biggest coffee-shop operator, reported fiscal second-quarter profit in April that met analysts' estimates as U.S. customer traffic improved while sales stagnated in Europe. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Starbucks

Starbucks, founded in 1971, is one of the few early success stories in mobile payments. The coffee chain launched a mobile payment app in 2009 in just 16 stores and has since aggressively expanded the app's acceptance and capabilities. In 2013, Starbucks reportedly handled 90% of the volume of mobile payments made in the U.S. (Image: Bloomberg News)

Customers wait in line behind an Apple Inc. iPhone 6 Plus on display at SoftBank Corp.'s Omotesando store during the sales launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. Apple stores attracted long lines of shoppers for the debut of the latest iPhones, indicating healthy demand for the bigger-screen smartphones. Photographer: Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg

Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg

Apple

Apple, founded in 1976, has made two big splashes in mobile payments. iTunes and the App Store, which sell a significant amount of digital media through phones, have roughly 800 million user accounts. Its new Apple Pay mobile wallet focuses on point of sale and in-app payments, benefiting from a significant promotional boost by banks, credit unions and retailers. (Image: Bloomberg News)

Softcard mobile payments expand to McDonald's in U.S. (PRNewsFoto/Softcard)

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McDonald's

McDonald's, founded in 1955, has grown to a global corporation that supports a variety of emerging payment systems in different countries. In the U.S., it actively promotes the Softcard wallet; in Sweden and other countries, it uses Seamless' SEQR app; in Canada, it is a participant in one of the first NFC-based mobile debit deployments with Interac Flash. (Pictured: McDonald's ad for Softcard)