In a move some observers say might represent the future of loyalty and mobile payments, loyalty marketer Maritz Real-Time and smart card technology firm Vivotech Inc. have formed a strategic partnership to provide immediate retail promotions to customer mobile phones equipped with Near Field Communication technology.

Consumers in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada soon may use their smartphone as a contactless payment device and mobile wallet using an application from Yespay International Ltd.

Though perhaps there is no greater rivalry than Thin Mints versus Samoas, two Girl Scout groups are taking sides in a different debate: which mobile card reader is best for cookie sales.

Square Inc.’s Feb. 22 announcement that it had dropped the 15-cent transaction fee for card-present transactions represents a return to a rate scheme the merchant-services company had last spring.

Mobile-network operators NTT Docomo Inc. of Japan and KT Corp. of South Korea have inked a deal to support Near Field Communication payments for smartphones in the two countries that use Google Inc.’s Android operating system.

Financial institutions and consumers will be able to more quickly detect and respond to fraudulent transactions and suspicious bank-account activity using a mobile-based fraud-management service ClairMail Inc. has developed, the San Rafael, Calif.-based company announced Feb. 17.

Better-than-expected merchant reaction to Intuit Inc.’s offer of free card readers and no monthly service fees to small merchants using its GoPayment mobile-payments service has prompted the company to extend the offer indefinitely, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company announced Feb. 16.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s mobile check-deposit service stood out to the financial services industry as one of the few to make it to market without technology from Mitek Systems Inc. But now even Chase counts itself among Mitek’s growing list of customers.

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.