Apple Pay's October debut was arguably the biggest story in mobile payments in 2014. But it's only the prologue of a larger conflict set to heat up in the year ahead.

The digital currency movement is headed into 2015 still looking for a "killer app" to pull Bitcoin out of obscurity. Mixing Bitcoin's technology with the virality of social media could be the winning ticket.

CheckAlt has added electronic check payments as an option for consumers purchasing gift cards through CardCash.com.

Square is committed to its diversification strategy, furthering its transformation from a simple mobile point of sale provider to a company that also handles small-business loans, marketing and e-commerce.

One of the challenges WePay faces in handling fundraising payments is the lack of visibility into when a given fundraising event will result in a spike of payment volume that is beyond what the vendor can typically handle.

2014 was a big year for payments. Disruption came from within the financial services industry and from outsiders like Apple and Walmart. Mainstream payment companies had to respond to these new competitors as well as adapt to fresh attention from regulators and fraudsters.

Huntington National Bank in Columbus, Ohio, has announced plans to support Apple Pay.

As computing devices get closer to the body and more Internet-connected, payment platforms will have to be flexible enough to work in a vast number of environments, according to PayPal's Joel Yarbrough.

The payment processor Stripe Inc. is one of the key parties enabling the Sony film The Interview to be rented and purchased online after it was pulled from theaters following terroristic threats.

The point of sale technology provider TouchBistro is partnering with Uber to provide free transportation service to restaurant patrons in Toronto.

A technology called "host card emulation" made a big splash when it became part of the Android operating system in late 2013, but 2014 marked the year in which the tech became a foundation for future mobile wallet development.

Late last week, hackers took down Payza's blog and posted a mocking message in its place, implying that they were sitting on a treasure trove of stolen data. Payza says this was merely a hacker's stunt, and that no data of real value could have been compromised, but the company must still deal with the event's damage to its brand.

Mobile payments service provider Calpian released new growth figures for its Money-On-Mobile unit in India.

For MasterCard's Mung Ki Woo, the future of payments is an app that unlocks new consumer habits by literally unlocking their doors.

While many mobile wallet companies look to complement credit and debit card acceptance, South Africa's SnapScan is focused on merchants who accept only cash.

Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., will accept Apple Pay as a companion to its own contactless payment cards and wristbands.

MasterCard will host a series of hackathons in different countries to spot innovation in digital payments.

Moneris Solutions, Inc. and Syrasoft Self Storage Software will partner on two new integrated payment processing options for the self-storage industry.

PayPal has agreed to distribute CashStar digital gift cards through the eBay marketplace and the PayPal Digital Gifts store.

Retail stores have spent years fighting competition from the Internet, and Verifone plans to prove that it's a fight the brick-and-mortar side can win.