Mobile payments

The plastic card is an aging tool in payments, but there's still room for innovation in its design and features. Here are a few new concepts that favor technology and style as differentiators.

The move will help consumers directly authorize payments to third parties without providing the physical card or full account details.

The market for fitness trackers is saturated with generic products, and Fitbit needs to differentiate with devices that have capabilities beyond counting users' steps and tracking sleep.

Innovators offer speed, but banks retain customer relationships and a vast product range that can add services to payments.

General Motors is expanding its collaboration with Mastercard to enable drivers to order and pay from inside their cars. It's further evidence THE thing in Internet of Things is the car. However, the convergence of order-ahead payments and connected vehicles must contend with safety concerns that simply aren't a part of any other digitally connected channel.

Bango tightened its hold on the carrier billing market in Indonesia, adding leading mobile network provider Smartfren as a user of one-click payments on Google Play, the app store for Android devices.

Despite the best intentions of Apple and Google to ignite contactless, the QR Code persists as a tenacious legacy technology providing the connective tissue between physical and digital domains. Further evidence of its persistence comes from Facebook.

The shift in payments at hospitality businesses such as restaurants is hard enough, but it's made even more challenging by the pace and breadth of the changes.

Facebook is reportedly rolling out a feature that allows users to scan QR codes to earn incentives to shop at nearby stores.

The B-to-B payments market is ripe for digital innovation. Here are some of the most recent moves to bring B-to-B payments up to speed.