The emerging U.S. mobile-payments market could face some resistance from consumers who are worried about fraud, new research suggests.

Fresh off moving its Citi Ventures unit to the Bay Area to get close to the latest payments tech buzz, Citi’s investing in mobile payments firm Billing Revolution.

Online and mobile-payment startup Dwolla Corp. has been building a payment network called Grid that company executives believe to be more secure than MasterCard Worldwide’s and Visa Inc.’s card networks.

Bill-payment processor Tio Networks Corp. is making headway with its mobile bill-payment application.

In its first major play to connect its mobile-payments service with social media, Starbucks Coffee Co. on June 30 unveiled a mobile-payment application it developed in-house that consolidates the features of previous apps with links to enable users to send Starbucks gift cards via Facebook.

States’ efforts to rein in fly-by-night companies are starting to have an effect on some payments startups’ operations.

The marketplace is beginning to take shape for mobile card readers with the June 29 disclosure that VeriFone Systems Inc. plans to introduce a card-reading accessory for tablet computers this year.

Fiserv Inc.’s deal to buy the software vendor CashEdge Inc. narrows the field of contenders vying for dominance in the growing person-to-person payments space.

Dynamics Inc. made a splash last year with the launch of a Citigroup-issued multipurse card that has a built-in screen and keypad, but the mobile wallet systems that have been announced since then–including Google Wallet, which also has Citi’s support, duplicates all of those features.

In a move that could increase competition in Taiwan’s mobile-payments market, telecommunication operator Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. has declared plans to begin offering payment services by the end of this year.

Mobile-payment initiatives from Google Inc., Isis and PayPal Inc. appear to be motivating investment firms to take a closer look at the companies that will help enable such transactions at brick-and-mortar locations.

Mobile-payments startup Square Inc.’s $100 million venture-capital avalanche announced June 29 could mean that the company’s transaction volume is gaining significant momentum despite its lack of profits, one analyst contends.

Citing “shortcomings” with the technology, Australia’s ANZ Banking Group Ltd. has halted development of a microSD iPhone case designed to turn a smartphone into a payment device.

Jet Airways Ltd., India’s largest private airline by passengers carried, has begun offering a mobile-ticketing service for booking seats on its flights, a sign of continued expansion of mobile commerce in India.

Mobile payments in India received a major boost on June 27 when Nokia India Pvt. Ltd., the Indian arm of the Finnish mobile handset maker, announced it would offer its Mobile Money service on all Nokia devices.

Another company has announced a mobile payments and marketing app in what some are calling the Wild West of mobile payments.

A San Francisco-based startup called Card.io is offering software that enables cell-phone cameras to scan credit card information, thus moving ecommerce from the Web to mobile phones and creating a new product for ISOs to sell to merchants.

Small and midsize businesses now have an alternative to traditional card-payment processing channels through a new mobile-payment processing service rolled out earlier this month by Australia’s Commonwealth Bank Ltd.

Vivotech Inc., a Near Field Communication software and systems company, has received $24 million in funding to expand beyond the 35 countries where its products are now used, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company announced June 27.

A San Francisco-based startup called Card.io is offering software that enables cell-phone cameras to scan credit card information, thus moving ecommerce from the Web to mobile.