Mobile payments

Given the number of mobile payment companies targeting small business, there's lots of slicing and dicing of the market in the name of differentiation.

A Swiss joint venture plans to release SwissWallet for online shopping this month, partnering with MasterCard for use of its digital wallet, MasterPass.

With Visa Inc. set to merge with Visa Europe, the U.S. company stands to benefit from the experience its London-based counterpart has in mobile and digital payments. It could also supercharge these projects with added resources.

Point-of-sale payment provider payworks has released a white-label software development kit (SDK) that outside parties can use to develop mobile point of sale services.

Unlike Rite Aid and CVS pharmacies, which cut off contactless Near Field Communication (NFC) payments when Apple Pay launched in October of 2014, Walgreens never bucked the Apple Pay trend and did not take long to start accepting transactions from Apple's mobile pay service.

Digital payment provider Mozido will provide the technology behind the Deutsche Telekom AG mobile wallet in Germany.

Mobile payment initiatives in Canada are adding perks such as shopper loyalty programs, which can help differentiate the bank and carrier-branded mobile wallets when Apple Pay arrives.

In what could be seen as another salvo in the battle between payments and financial services 'disruptors' and more traditional financial institutions, five large technology companies — Google, Amazon, Apple, PayPal and Intuit — have formed a lobbying and advocacy group.

Mobile commerce provider P97 is partnering with SAP Vehicles Network to include its fuel payment platform with SAP's cloud-based automobile operating system.

By dropping out of the mobile card reader business, Amazon is focusing on the one-click Pay with Amazon app and further embedding payments into its customer relationship management.

Financial services technology company Fiserv and bank-owned risk management provider Early Warning are partnering to add scale for deposit accounts and bill payment services.

Mobile payments provider iZettle has expanded into Italy, where it will offer its free mobile card reader to small merchants as well as its wireless contactless payment acceptance device.

For a time, the European payments market was considered fertile ground for the creation of a third card network to compete against heavyweights Visa Europe and MasterCard. This third network never came to be, but European banks kept the idea on the back burner as a way to compete against or even bypass the major card brands.

In wearables, one size doesn't fit all. Some Apple Watch owners may never use Apple Pay; others may consider it a must-have feature.

Visa's agreement to reunite with Visa Europe positions the global card brand to better address a world where payments and commerce have fewer borders.

Digital commerce and payments company Mozido has named R. Todd Bradley as its new chief executive.

To improve its commerce and restaurant management offerings, Heartland Payment Systems has acquired Digital Dining, a provider of software that enables handheld point of sale devices to interact with conventional fixed terminals.

Apple Pay hasn't gone too far with consumers in its first year, but it has nevertheless established a solid footing with merchants, banks and two generations of its own handsets. And Apple has many powerful rivals that are eager to surpass it.

FIS is taking a major step toward completing its ongoing project of making it possible for people to pay for fuel without getting out of the car.

If Visa and MasterCard seem to be shining an extremely bright spotlight on their tokenization efforts, it's because they view it as vital to their survival.