Mobile payments

Amazon's Prime Day event is marketed as a summertime version of the Black Friday shopping holiday, but it also serves as a proving ground for the retailer's most experimental ways of selling its products.

Spanish gasoline retailer Repsol this week augmented its Near Field Communication-based mobile payments services by launching an app enabling motorists to pay for fuel without leaving the car.

What's most intriguing to payments industry insiders is what Walmart left on the table when designing Walmart Pay, and what those decisions could mean for retailers and bank card issuers.

Mobile wallets remain in a nascent stage until service providers can deliver value beyond just payments.

Developers of smartwatches deliver numerous capabilities and features on those devices that consumers typically use on a smartphone, including payments. But a consumer in the U.K. no longer needs an expensive smartwatch simply to move money from their timepieces.

Square Inc. spent six weeks in Portland, Ore. — a city with a strong existing base of micro-merchants — to transform it into one of the company's top U.S. markets in total Apple Pay transactions conducted with its card readers.

Walmart Pay is the culmination of years of efforts that Walmart has put into building its brand as a trusted provider of payments. In addition to its new mobile wallet, Walmart has been involved in numerous innovative projects to help its customers move money.

Canada's national debit scheme has been a mobile trendsetter in recent years, enabling the organization to pursue agreements with other national programs that want to replicate that success.

Seven months after revealing its branded mobile payment app, Walmart is making Walmart Pay available in more than 4,600 of its stores throughout the U.S., with early figures indicating consumers approve of its "connected" app model.

PayPal is continuing its advance through Europe's mobile payments landscape with partner Vodafone, ending any notion the e-commerce payments giant isn't interested in having a presence through Near Field Communication technology at the point of sale.