MasterCard has taken a broad view of the "smart cities" concept, working with multiple organizations toward a common goal.

Amazon's Prime Day event is marketed as a summertime version of the Black Friday shopping holiday, but it also serves as a proving ground for the retailer's most experimental ways of selling its products.

Spanish gasoline retailer Repsol this week augmented its Near Field Communication-based mobile payments services by launching an app enabling motorists to pay for fuel without leaving the car.

Despite the many big companies opening their programming tools to external developers and merchants, the market for user-friendly technology is just getting started.

What's most intriguing to payments industry insiders is what Walmart left on the table when designing Walmart Pay, and what those decisions could mean for retailers and bank card issuers.

Mobile wallets remain in a nascent stage until service providers can deliver value beyond just payments.

Developers of smartwatches deliver numerous capabilities and features on those devices that consumers typically use on a smartphone, including payments. But a consumer in the U.K. no longer needs an expensive smartwatch simply to move money from their timepieces.

E-commerce seems to have a better memory than brick and mortar stores, quickly scrutinizing shoppers' purchasing and browsing habits to provide recommendations and offers to keep them coming back.

Square Inc. spent six weeks in Portland, Ore. — a city with a strong existing base of micro-merchants — to transform it into one of the company's top U.S. markets in total Apple Pay transactions conducted with its card readers.

Walmart Pay is the culmination of years of efforts that Walmart has put into building its brand as a trusted provider of payments. In addition to its new mobile wallet, Walmart has been involved in numerous innovative projects to help its customers move money.

Canada's national debit scheme has been a mobile trendsetter in recent years, enabling the organization to pursue agreements with other national programs that want to replicate that success.

Seven months after revealing its branded mobile payment app, Walmart is making Walmart Pay available in more than 4,600 of its stores throughout the U.S., with early figures indicating consumers approve of its "connected" app model.

As the banks behind Early Warning's clearXchange network start to flex its muscles, one of their important tasks will be to convince business clients it's worth it to collect funds through a process designed for person-to-person payments.

PayPal is continuing its advance through Europe's mobile payments landscape with partner Vodafone, ending any notion the e-commerce payments giant isn't interested in having a presence through Near Field Communication technology at the point of sale.

While mobile snapshots are becoming a popular way to authenticate consumers, Citrus Pay is turning the idea toward merchants by developing a mobile app that will allow users to create an online store with the snap of a photo.

Bottomline Technologies and Global Processing Services have partnered to bring consumers 'banking lite' card services.

China is a huge but challenging market for external payments companies, and Canadian contactless payment provider Mobeewave is seeking help in the ground by partnering with the Alliance Development Group.

Bokis, a consortium of 62 small- to midsize banks in Denmark, will launch an NFC-based digital wallet this fall powered by host card emulation (HCE) that will be available to all its members, according to Nets A/S, the Denmark payments technology firm heading the wallet’s development.

Consumers show no signs of broadly embracing mobile wallets, but it’s clear from the aggressive mobile wallet plays of huge companies like Microsoft and Walmart that laying a foundation is important.

Consumers making payments to the federal government will be able to do so through the Amazon Payments digital wallet.