Ingenico's Roam is launching a mobile card reader with chip and PIN acceptance, and it expects U.S. merchants will want to use it to accept PIN debit transactions even before EMV-chip cards become widespread.

HP plans to sell a tablet-based point of sale system that integrates payments with a number of other business operations.

MasterCard has upgraded its MasterPass digital wallet to enable purchases from within mobile applications.

MasterCard has entered into an agreement to purchase mobile wallet technology developer C-Sam.

BlueSnap has developed software designed to help online merchants cut down on checkout abandonment by allowing them to host numerous checkout pages designed for different markets.

Square will now accept Discover and Diners Club credit card payments in Canada, joining American Express, Visa, MasterCard and JCB credit cards.

There is a sudden surge of attention around Host Card Emulation, a technology that enables Near Field Communication contactless payments without requiring access to the phone's secure element (a chip that carriers control). Several mobile wallets are either in testing or fully live with the technology.

Until recently, mobile wallets could count on getting at least some boost from exclusivity. If you were on Sprint, you could use Google Wallet but not Isis. If you were on AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile, you could use Isis but not Google Wallet. If you had an iPhone, you could use neither, but you had your pick of software-based mobile wallets such as LevelUp and the Starbucks card.

Silicon Valley Bank and MasterCard Inc. launched the Commerce.Innovated. accelerator to find and nurture innovators in payments technology.

French terminal maker Ingenico SA and electronics giant Samsung are combining their mobile payment products to offer merchants an integrated mobile payment system.

Youth payments company Oink is partnering with Discover to add scale to Oink's efforts to adapt its online payment system for in-store use.

Smartphone commerce company LoopPay has released LoopWallet, as well as a fob that enables users to store payment credentials.

French secure-chip testing provider Fime says it has strengthened its technology for EMV and mobile payment certification through an agreement with Agilent Technologies.

PayPal has hired Danese Cooper for the new position of Head of Open Source, a role meant to improve PayPal's engagement with external software engineers.

Visa and MasterCard are adopting emerging communications technology called host card emulation (HCE), which is designed to power bank and merchant-led mobile payments apps with less reliance on phone hardware.

Amazon.com Inc. is expanding the use of its digital currency, Amazon Coins, to all apps and games in the mobile Amazon Appstore.

Bankinter plans to bring Near Field Communication mobile payments to its customers in Spain, using host card emulation (HCE) technology to support the mobile virtual card it developed last year.

American Express Co. drew from the ranks of Google Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to bolster its technology unit by hiring Brian Saluzzo and Nik Sathe.

E-commerce technology provider Payza will offer an outsourced service that allows U.S. merchants to accept card payments directly into their business bank accounts.

Mobile payments and messaging provider Infobip has added direct mobile billing connections for its network of merchants and retailers in Russia.