Virtual Piggy has linked its youth payments engine to Innovation First International, which makes robotic toys and educational tools.

Payments and marketing are getting closer than ever, and several companies are blurring the line between where the payment ends and where the pitch begins.

Bitcoin exchange Coinbase will offer instant purchases for users that supply identity information, with others having to wait four days for transactions to complete.

Google requires the early adopters who buy its Google Glass headset to purchase it using Google Wallet. What are the implications for Google's payments strategy?

Developers should consider incorporating rewards and other tools such as receipt tracking in new mobile payment applications to promote broad adoption.

With the summer driving season in full swing, Shell Oil Products U.S. is attempting to boost the appeal of its branded payment cards.

GoCardless is using a link to Sage's accounting software to improve the experience of automating business-to-business payments in a market that typically lags the consumer payments market.

The Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), a mobile payments initiative created by major retailers, will use technology from FIS to speed processing and provide access to accounts at a large range of financial institutions.

The payment processor Global Payments Inc. will offer its U.S. merchant customers an iPad point of sale system from ShopKeep POS.

The next big idea for payments is ready to spring to life, and MasterCard wants to be there when it happens.

As EMV-chip card use spreads at the point of sale in the U.S., online merchants will have to change the way they handle payments online.

Mobile transaction technology provider C-Sam has hired former Citigroup executive Kurt Weiss as managing director of global financial institutions and mPayy founder Conrad Sheehan to be general manager of strategic initiatives.

Merchant payment and marketing company Punchey has hired Michael Sattler to be vice president of engineering and Rick Graham as director of demand generation.

The mobile bank account provider Simple will soon offer Braintree's mobile payment system, Venmo Touch, to its users.

By July 2008, when Apple introduced the app store as part of the new iPhone 3G, the idea of mobile payments had largely flopped. The app store gave payments companies a second chance at creating the mobile wallet — but many still stumbled along the way.

Visa has entered agreements with more than 40 Australian banks to offer customers the V.me digital wallet for online shopping — a mere three months after MasterCard debuted its MasterPass digital wallet in Australia.

BBVA Ventures, the corporate venture arm of BBVA Group, is investing in SumUp, a company that enables mobile devices to accept card payments.

Six banks in Poland have created a joint venture to develop common mobile payment standards to comply with national regulations — a move that leaves card networks out of the equation.

LevelUp founder Seth Priebatsch could barely contain his excitement when discussing the possibilities of Google Glass, a mobile device built into a headset that Google sells only to a limited number of early adopters.

Retailers are bombarded with new mobile payment methods. Many merchants chose to move forward with two or more new technologies rather than bet their future on just one mobile wallet.