Technology

Google's first attempt to work with banks in mobile payments was disastrous — it required banks to jump through hoops to link their brand to its wallet app, and only one issuer ever did before Google lowered the hurdle. But with Android Pay, that logic is reversed, and Google is the one going out of its way to be a part of bankers' apps.

Android Pay is far more than a rebranding of Google Wallet. It's a reboot of Google's approach to mobile payments, picking the best of Google Wallet and Apple Pay while shedding the ideas that distract from each product's core focus.

Over the holidays, my wife and I took a short vacation to Napa Valley. We had the opportunity to visit a number of wineries and purchase a few bottles—an experience that also demonstrated the shortcomings of antiquated card security.

BBVA has introduced technology that its mobile wallet users in Spain may liken to switching channels on a TV.

Google plans to release a new mobile payment system called Android Pay, which will include many of the same features as Apple Pay, while the Google Wallet brand will live on as a peer to peer service.

A visit to an overnight shipping store in Napa Valley reveals that outdated payment-processing procedures remain de rigueur with some merchants — despite the fraud risk.

San Diego-based Mitek, a firm that specializes in capturing mobile data for customer acquisition, has acquired Dutch identity verification company IDchecker.

Merchants expect that payment card fraud will migrate to e-commerce as the U.S. gets more protection at the physical point of sale through EMV chip cards. That means chargebacks, already a problem in physical retail, will escalate in e-commerce as well.

Nacha's push for faster payments is largely positive, but banks still stand to lose position in the business to business payments market.

The use of e-commerce payments technology as a portal to other business services is advancing rapidly, requiring point of sale companies to constantly add new tools that merchants and developers can use to add muscle to transaction venues.