VeriFone Holdings Inc.’s Payware Mobile payment software for Apple Inc.’s iPhone is now available from Apple’s iTunes store, the San Jose, Calif.-based terminal maker says.

Nearly a year after USAA Federal Savings Bank launched a service that enables customers to deposit checks into their accounts using images captured with cameras on their Apple Inc. iPhones, the bank last weekend launched the same service for Android-powered smartphones.

Remote capture services have become an important offering for business customers, and banks are now adapting the technology for mobile phones in an effort to reach the mainstream.

Torrance (Calif.) Community Credit Union said it successfully accepted its first mobile phone deposit over an iPhone.

Citigroup Inc. announced Thursday that it has integrated credit card account information into its downloadable Citi Mobile application for the Apple Inc. iPhone.

The continuing evolution of mobile technology has prompted a fledging mobile-payments company to develop a system that enables consumers to send free text message-based funds transfers to Central America.

Mobile-payments company Apriva announced today the launch of the AprivaPay and AprivaPay Professional mobile-payment services. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Apriva operates its own network that connects mobile-payment terminals to processors.

Citibank customers in Thailand can now use their cell phones to access their bank accounts with Citi Mobile, Citi announced earlier this month. The company says it is the first foreign bank to offer mobile banking in Thailand.

Arcot Systems Inc. has released an application for mobile phones that enables consumers with EMV cards to authenticate card-not-present transactions, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said this week.

Total System Services Inc. plans to use mobile phones to gain a larger foothold in micropayments, Ashim Banerjee, the U.S.-based transaction processor’s chief information officer for TSYS Acquiring Solutions, tells PaymentsSource.

Inside Contactless is working with another France-based contactless-technology firm to develop kiosks and electronic wallets that use Near Field Communication, an Inside spokesperson tells PaymentsSource.

Beaverton, Ore.-based First Tech Credit Union is warning its members of a new malicious banking application it discovered that apparently is designed to steal online banking account details on Google's new Android cellphones.

Gemalto has increased its capital investment to become the majority shareholder in mobile-payments firm Netsize, the company announced Tuesday. Amstercam-based Gemalto has an option to buy the company at a later date, but it did not disclose terms of the transaction.

Merced School Employees Federal Credit Union members now can pay bills using their mobile phones through a recent agreement the Merced, Calif.-based institution made that provides them access to Fiserv Inc.’s Mobile Money service.

British issuer Barclaycard and mobile-network operator Orange UK have launched a cobranded contactless credit card, a product that brings the two firms closer to offering payments via mobile phones.

At the start of 2009, consumers said, almost timidly, that it would be nice to be able to manage their bank accounts with mobile phones. Now, they are demanding such services.

Mophie, a Paw Paw, Mich.-based provider of technology accessory products such as smartphone batteries, later this week expects to reveal an external card reader and an application that manages transactions for Apple Inc.’s iPhone at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

UniRush LLC announced its prepaid RushCard has added a card-to-card funds transfer feature for users who want to transfer money between prepaid Visa RushCards.

Hoping to tap an emerging market, Visa Inc., MasterCard Worldwide and American Express Co. have been working to open their networks to third-party developers of software and smartphone applications.

Luup International Ltd. plans to establish a mobile phone-based remittance service for the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia, a spokesperson for the Norway-based payments provider tells PaymentsSource. The service will enable the approximately 500,000 Indonesians in the United Arab Emirates to transfer funds home.