One of Europe's newest digital wallet initiatives is relying on technology that sidesteps carriers, another blow to an industry that's suffered greatly in its attempts to gain share of the mobile payments market.

The mobile wallet is still a niche product, but many companies worldwide made big strides in bringing secure payments to handheld devices. Some of the most groundbreaking changes happened just in the past year.

Digital money transfer provider Xoom has launched a service for sending funds to Bangladesh.

Mobile wallet and commerce provider Mozido continues to spread its wings with the launch of contactless payment capabilities for TWallet users in Indonesia.

While Apple Pay has been received favorably since its launch last year, Google was technically the first mobile payments system on the block with their since re-branded Google Wallet. Android Pay is their latest foray into mobile payments and Google is set to drive agenda forward with significant advantages in adoption, capability, and compatibility.

Krispy Kreme's new payment and loyalty app is betting big on customers' appetite for donating to charity.

Despite being widely encouraged to do so, most banks have not rushed to build their own mobile wallets to maintain their brand identities while complementing the capabilities of existing payment apps.

Innovation and flexibility aren’t attributes often associated with public transportation. But by deploying cutting edge open payment ticketing technologies, transit operators can give their customers greater flexibility and create a more engaging transit network.

Mobile wallets have long struggled to displace cash and cards, so Ingo Money chose a different target: check-cashing.

Payments technology company BlueSnap has launched its mobile checkout gateway, the Powered Buy Platform.

Cloud-based payroll, payments and business analytics platform CloudPay has brought on Brian Radin as its chief revenue officer.

Lovers of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee now have a mobile app to pay for their purchases and receive rewards.

Swatch Group AG plans to start selling a timepiece that can make contactless payments in the U.S., Switzerland and Brazil early next year through an agreement with Visa Inc.

While consumers hunt for deals during the holiday online shopping frenzy, fraudsters are doing the same — using the credentials they've hoarded from any number of data breaches the past year.

The holidays are approaching, and mobile is going to play a bigger role in e-commerce than ever before. Last year, mobile holiday shopping traffic surpassed desktop for the first time and retailers are expecting even higher mobile traffic this year.

Amazon.com is big enough to try things that other retailers would find too risky. Over the years it has developed many groundbreaking payment technologies and revolutionized e-commerce, but not all of its ideas have done well.

WorldRemit app users can now send funds to any bank account in Vietnam, as the money transfer provider expands into Southeast Asia.

The U.S. is a long way from widespread adoption of EMV, but security analysts say the boom in online shopping—plus a surge in consumers' use of mobile devices for holiday purchases—will make it easier for fraudsters to hide their moves as they redirect their efforts from retail to online channels.

Mobile payment users are still in short supply, and the growing range of options may be seen as too chaotic for consumers who haven't yet used a mobile wallet.

Apple Pay has reportedly made plans to launch in China by early February.