Economy

Isis, the mobile wallet venture of AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile, has activated an average of 20,000 new mobile wallets per day in the past 30 days.

Square has removed its cloud-based Wallet app from the Apple iTunes and Google Play stores, apparently to make room for a new app called Square Order.

The car phone may be a relic of a bygone era, but more automobile and parking companies are looking for ways to put the mobile phone back in the driver's seat. And in many cases, payments are making the connection.

The explosion of startups developing payment tools hasn't ceased, and simple consumer mobile wallets are starting to make way for products suitable for large corporations.

Longtime friends and business partners Alex Charfen and Price Givens have formally launched BitcoinWallet.com, which they plan to market as a social, consumer-friendly and transparent digital currency wallet.

Alternative lenders, once considered competitive threats, are becoming allies for some banks. BBVA Compass now pitches its clients on OnDeck loans in the hopes of better retaining small-business customers.

The Target data breach has sparked more awareness of card security issues, but nearly 90% of consumers responding to a survey don’t know much about the EMV-chip cards.

While mobile wallet providers try to simplify payments by taking plastic cards out of the equation, others are looking further into the future to an era where everything is connected.

American Express Co. is ready for its new small business program, OptBlue, to take the spotlight after several months of testing and a soft launch with acquirers.

As mobile devices become more integral to consumers’ lives, they present more opportunities for interaction with banks, payment companies and merchants. Here are a few companies that are pushing mobile technology into the future.

Bitcoin ATM provider Robocoin is touting its ATMs as bank branches after launching an online banking platform, Robocoin Bank.

Facebook's payment system has processed $3 billion in transactions for developers, with 100 of its developers making over $1 million a year through Facebook.

Value-added products and services may offer ISOs an opportunity to increase profits, but only with the right sales pitch.

Visa is lowering or eliminating many merchant acquirer fees for merchants who generate less than $15,000 in annual Visa sales. It also plans to eliminate up to half its operating rules.

Key decision makers in the payments industry recently gathered for SourceMedia's 2014 Card Forum and Expo. They discussed the trends shaping the industry and their own strategies for surviving the challenges ahead. Here are a few highlights.

Square has launched an order-ahead feature and other services to boost its appeal to brick-and-mortar merchants, but history has shown that merchants can be fickle about which features they'll pay more to use.

Biometric authentication company NXT-ID will soon roll out a wallet that is designed to digitally store payment cards without a mobile phone.

As independent sales organizations (ISOs) offer new payment technology and other services to improve merchant relationships, the ISOs have to decide whether to charge a fee—a difficult decision that can differ from one merchant to another.

PayPal and the mobile technology provider QikServe are working to enable U.K. hospitality businesses to accept orders and payments through the PayPal smartphone app.

With every new value-added product or service, an ISO has to determine an appropriate sales tactic—give it away for free, bundle it, charge upfront or levy a monthly or yearly service fee.