Visa Inc. has joined forces with Starbucks Corp. in what may be one of the emerging mobile-payment industry’s first national promotions designed to improve a payment brand’s status within a mobile wallet.

VeriFone Systems Inc. has turned its PayWare Mobile point-of-sale service into the equivalent of a multipurpose Swiss Army knife for payment acceptance, a necessary step to introduce the device to a global audience, according to the San Jose, Calif.-based payment-terminal maker.

SecureKey Technologies Inc. has received an investment from Intel Capital of Santa Clara, Calif., Intel Corp.’s global investment unit announced Feb. 14.

Long satisfied with offering merchants a purpose-built wireless point-of-sale terminal, Matt Freedman, chief operating officer at Total Merchant Services Inc., realized last year his independent sales organization needed to offer more to meet the needs of a broader mobile-merchant audience.

Garanti Bank is using VeriFone Systems Inc.’s Near Field Communication/contactless PIN-pad system in its nationwide rollout of an NFC mobile-payment initiative in Turkey, the payment-terminal maker announced Feb. 14.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is teaming up with the image-capture vendor Mitek Systems Inc. to develop new applications for smartphones.

Online Resources Corp. said Monday that the Montana credit union service organization CUsource LLC has signed on as a reseller for its online banking and bill-payment services.

Monitise PLC more than tripled its revenue during the six months ended Dec. 31 compared with the same period a year earlier as the mobile-payments company worked to expand its customer base.

VeriFone Systems Inc. is taking its PayWare Mobile point-of-sale service outside the United States for the first time and is adding acceptance for EMV chip-and-PIN cards and Near Field Communication-enabled devices, the company announced Feb. 14 at Mobile World Congress in Spain.

PayPal Inc. is pushing to expand use of mobile-wallet services as it stakes out its turf in the mobile-payments market, executives said Feb. 10 during a presentation at parent eBay Inc.’s analyst and investors day.

Vendors often tout their products in press releases and through other efforts seeking publicity. But sometimes they choose to keep things relatively low key.

The ability to initiate payments with mobile phones has captured the imagination of many groups, including consumers, merchants, payment card brands and wireless carriers.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank Pvt. bank has become the 10th bank in India to launch the Internet Mobile Payment Service in India, a spokesperson for the Karur-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

As the mobile-payments ecosystem continues to take shape, Total System Services Inc., or TSYS, is dipping its toe into the pool for the first time through a partnership with a Singapore-based trusted service manager for financial institutions, retailers, transit operators and mobile-service providers.

Telefónica O2 UK Ltd. is adding its name to a growing list of wireless carriers planning to launch Near Field Communication initiatives to enable consumers to use their smartphones to initiate payment at the point of sale.

French bank Crédit Agricole SA has selected Gemalto NV to support its deployment of Near Field Communication mobile-payment services in Nice, the France-based technology provider announced Feb. 8.

Two apps are better than one when launching mobile check-deposit services, at least for now, some banks say.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank Pvt. bank has become the 10th bank in India to launch the Internet Mobile Payment Service in India, a spokesperson for the Karur-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

Sage Payment Solutions Inc. hopes to capture a new group of retail customers with the launch of a mobile service that provides small and midsize merchants lacking storefronts a low-cost option to accept credit and debit cards, the company announced Feb. 7.

Seeking to cater to its consumers who do not have Apple Inc. iPhones or Google Inc. Android smartphones, TD Bank NA last week launched a mobile-banking application for Research In Motion Inc.’s BlackBerry devices.