Technology

Mobile apps have become an ingrained part of air travel, providing everything from boarding passes to entertainment, and are increasingly handling payments as well.

Apple has had a rough time signing major merchants to accept Apple Pay in stores, but it has finally won the support of Best Buy, a nationwide retailer that swore off Near Field Communication-based payments years ago.

NXT-ID will start shipping its Wocket wallets to customers at the start of May, over a year after it first announced the mobile payment device.

Apple Pay, slowly and steadily, is gaining ground as a preferred method of mobile payment. And it may have a lot to do with the steady release of Apple products that support its mobile wallet.

Verifone's Vin D'Agostino insists there's a special mix of cloud technology and hardware that can address all of merchants' needs — but only if they are willing to buy it all at once.

Discover, the only major U.S. card network that did not support Apple Pay at the mobile wallet's launch, has inked a deal with Apple, eliminating some of the fragmentation in the mobile wallet's deployment.

Success seems to come easily for Starbucks' mobile payment efforts, but only because the company did its heavy lifting elsewhere.

Apple Pay represents a new cost to the issuing community. The issuers accept this because there is little choice but to operate on Apple's terms, including paying a fee to support Apple Pay.

Now that the Apple Watch has arrived, banks and technology companies are making a big effort on the wearable's small screen. Some are focused on alerts and budgeting; others take advantage of the device's unique hardware.

The ubiquitous coffee chain is making new inroads with its mobile payments app, and its success underscores how nonbanks can outdo banks at their own game and should be watched closely by banking industry participants.