When Apple makes its long-awaited plunge into mobile payments, it is more likely to create a closed system for Apple customers than a truly open mobile wallet for all consumers, a new study from Celent says.

As consumer preferences shift, billers must have the resources to deal with the growing demand to pay bills on a mobile device, according to a recent study by the technology vendor Fiserv.

The Nigerian mobile payments company Teasy Mobile is expanding its range of services through a partnership with VeriFone Mobile, a joint venture of payment terminal maker VeriFone and mobile money provider Mobilis Networks.

Mobile payment and marketing company Mozido has acquired StickyStreet, which creates and manages customer loyalty programs, for an undisclosed price.

Payments innovation comes quickly, and often from outside the banking industry, leading Associated Bank to create a special procedure to monitor the tech market and customer preferences.

Leaf, a provider of tablets for payments, has hired several executives including a director at Heartland Payment Systems, which recently invested in the startup.

VerifyValid is offering businesses and consumers a mobile application that enables users to write, approve, sign, receive and deposit checks from an iOS device.

Payments played a major role in the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Here are some of the biggest announcements that came out during the conference, and a few from just before or afterwards that were no less important to the mobile payments community.

Cellum, a mobile commerce provider, has integrated MasterCard's MasterPass digital wallet with its own mobile wallet offering, OTPay, making it the first third-party in Europe to integrate MasterPass.

NakedWines' website, featuring a pastoral northern California winery, looks calm and comforting. But the company, which uses a crowdfunding payments model to reduce steps in wine sales, is trying to stir up some chaos.

Dash Software LLC, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based mobile payment provider that targets restaurants and bars, has raised $1.2 million in investment to launch its updated iPhone app in Manhattan.

Sterling Bancorp in Montebello, N.Y., has signed a long-term merchant servicing agreement with e-commerce and payment processing firm First Data Corp.

The Dutch startup Eaze introduced a "Nod to Pay" app for Google Glass that uses the headset's camera and ability to sense motion to enable Bitcoin payments.

Revel Systems and Index are partnering to bring the kind of personalized consumer messaging that's common in e-commerce to the countertops of retail stores.

IKaaz is launching a Near Field Communication mobile payments platform in Nigeria to take advantage of the proliferation of mobile devices locally and in other nations in Africa.

The e-commerce technology provider Live Gamer Inc. is incorporating MasterCard's MasterPass digital wallet into its checkout services.

Square has purchased BookFresh, a company that sells booking and appointment management technology to merchants.

Square is developing an app that allows people to place orders in advance of visits to Square merchants.

After every major Samsung product unveiling this week, PayPal was quick to say: we have an app for that.

JPMorgan Chase plans to develop a one-click checkout option for its customers when shopping online or through mobile devices.