MasterCard's approach to mobile payments is driven greatly by the series of mobile phone innovations simultaneously occurring around the world, according to the network's group executive for mobile.

If mobile payments can be presented as an opportunity for merchants and point of sale developers, rather than a disruptive threat, the attitude will speed adoption and provide consumers with a better experience, according to Matt Cicciari of Merchant Warehouse.

Any uncertainty in mobile wallet development fuels speculation in an industry anxious to see what shape mobile commerce will ultimately take. In this industry, products that make it even farther than where Isis is today don't always work out.

Many in the industry are starting to catch on to the concept that payments, while a critical foundation for mobile wallets, are taking a back seat to the sexier consumer-facing digital coupons, loyalty programs or targeted promotions through a mobile phone.

The LevelUp mobile payment system, best known for providing free incentives to consumers and free payment processing to merchants, picked up 4,000 merchants and 300,000 end users since its July 2011 inception. But with so much being given away for free, is there a future for the startup once its new clients become regulars?

Braintree says its vision for the future of e-commerce received a significant boost when the online and mobile payments provider lured a Google Inc. executive into its fold last month.

PayPal was an early supporter of Bump, whose technology could simulate an NFC payment by moving money when users' phones sensed they were being tapped together. But PayPal dropped Bump from its mobile app this year. Where does this leave Bump?

As new mobile-wallet systems appear and old ones fade, many are asking who will win the “mobile wallet wars.” According to the mobile-pay venture Isis, there may never be a clear winner.

Everyone seems to want the success that Square has in the mobile payments marketplace, and Amazon appears to be the next in line to join the device fray.

Mobile wallets promise simpler payments, but the road to get there has been bumpy and, quite often, bizarre.

Apple has — yet again — left payments out when it designed its newest iPhone, despite numerous indications that it explored using Near Field Communication technology to create a mobile wallet. Apple had many good reasons to choose the course it did.

Square has stolen the spotlight — after convincing Starbucks to switch to Square for processing, the mobile-payments vendor gave other merchants the option to accept cards for a flat $275 monthly fee. How can a rival mobile-pay provider compete?

PayPal and Square allow their mobile-wallet users to pay by checking in at merchant locations with an app that transmits their photo to the merchant for authentication. With ShopKeep POS, PayPal is showcasing this feature at a New York film festival.

SCVNGR's LevelUp, which announced a charitable-donation option today, is not the first to spot a link between charities and mobile spending and rewards. Shopkick's mobile rewards app began life in 2009 as CauseWorld, which had a strong focus on donating any rewards earned to charities.

DeviceFidelity is relaunching its Moneto mobile wallet, and this time around it lets users transfer funds to other Moneto users' prepaid accounts.

Many companies are seeking fresh ways to use mobile phones to add functionality and security at ATMs.

VeriFone is making good on its original promise to open up its Square-like mobile card reader, Sail, to developers.

Google Wallet is under increasing pressure — though the mobile wallet has been in consumers' hands for over a year, Google still has fewer issuer partners than its rival Isis, and with the Merchant Customer Exchange wallet on the horizon, Google now faces competition from the very retailers it seeks to attract.

Apple's iWallet is much anticipated but, due to Apple's notorious secrecy, still very hard to picture. A new patent lends some slight clarity to the company's mobile-payment vision.

Nearly a third of acquirers surveyed still view mobile payments as a threat.