Mobile payments

China UnionPay has launched its NFC-based QuickPass mobile payment system in Canada, marking its first acceptance by merchants in North America.

Microsoft Wallet has a substantial consumer base, particularly stemming from its gaming business, through there aren't a lot of banks that support its mobile payments technology. The software picked up some bank momentum with this week's addition of PNC.

ItzCash and India’s RBL Bank have formed a partnership to launch the country’s first cobranded prepaid card powered by the government-backed RuPay Network, the latest example of India's efforts to rapidly accelerate financial inclusion.

Even though studies are showing that an increasing number of users are giving the mobile wallet technology a try, only a few are reported to be using it on a continuous basis.

Carrier billing provider Boku is expanding its partnership with Microsoft to customers in the U.K. and Italy.

At most merchants, mobile wallets have been a solution in search of a problem. But at the pharmacy, every customer already has a problem — possibly several problems — they want to address before they even think about how they want to pay.

Two years after eschewing Apple Pay and NFC, CVS is integrating payments, marketing and prescription ordering in a single bar code-enabled mobile app, replacing a customer experience that currently relies heavily on time-consuming interactions with staff.

Walmart Pay has been available nationwide at Walmart stores for several weeks, but consumers haven’t taken much notice — a foreboding sign for those hoping for a breakthrough with merchant-branded mobile payment apps.

Payza, a U.K.-based global online payments platform, has expanded the reach of its prepaid Mastercard, which is linked to an existing mobile wallet, to 190 countries.

Apple Inc. is preparing the first significant overhaul of its MacBook Pro laptop line in over four years, according to people familiar with the matter, using one of its older products to help reverse two quarters of sliding sales.

Airlines are a paradox of mobile payment acceptance. They handle check-ins, boarding passes and other key functions through their apps, but are not as full-featured when it comes to handling sales over phones and tablets.

To help people keep their card information safe when they shop online, a handful of fintech startups are following Apple Pay's example of keeping that information hidden, providing merchants with tokens instead.

Payment technologies are in an unwelcome spotlight this month, as security researchers expose their weaknesses just as the products are winning a long-desired trust among mainstream consumers.

In a reversal of its longstanding aversion to Apple Pay, Walmart has acquired a company that not only accepts Apple Pay, but gives customers an incentive of 1.5% off the purchase to use a debit card loaded into Apple's mobile pay system.

A coalition of Canada’s largest vending machine operators has formed a partnership with Portland, Ore.-based payments technology startup PayRange Inc. to add mobile payments through Bluetooth technology.

Merchants using BlueSnap payments technology to power e-commerce and mobile checkout will have Visa Checkout as a payment option for customers.

Turning banks into app stores has primarily been a vision of some European startups, but a California company is hoping to bring it to reality in the United States.

The Kerv contactless payments ring, a Kickstarter-backed project that reached its funding goal in October 2015, has begun production.

The U.S. is steadily building the foundation of a nationwide faster payments system, but not all of the pieces are connected. Many of the elements developed independently, with influence from across the globe.

Payments technology is rapidly changing, but so is the broader environment for retailers, creating a need for flexible and diverse payment acceptance options.