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.

Google Glass, a headset built by Google to be the next big mobile device, doesn't do much yet. But its features open new possibilities to companies like Square, LevelUp and PayPal as they seek to take over the point of sale.

Square Inc. has ended its gift card service, according to a report from Reuters, about half a year after launching the program.

Birch Coffee has used Square's mobile card reader for its delivery service for about two years, and was one of the first to switch to the new Square Market e-commerce site ahead its launch.

It's been an eventful year so far in the payments industry. Exciting new technologies, dramatic executive turnover and ongoing courtroom drama have defined 2013's first six months.

Webster Bank's plotting its move into mobile payments, and part of its strategy is to let others make the mistakes, particularly when it comes to tapping payments data for purposes such as marketing.

Space travel and tourism are achievable dreams for the near future, and PayPal aims to reach the final frontier before its rivals do.

Bank of America, which is testing the use of QR codes for payment at five merchants and uses the same technology at the teller line, reports success in using the codes to enroll customers in its mobile banking app.

Square Inc. now allows its merchants to establish an online store through the Square Register app.