Mobile payments

More than 212 million biometric authentication devices will be shipped over the next decade for use in financial services, according to recent Tractica market research.

More financial services companies are landing on MaRS, a corner of Toronto where developers are building new uses for smartphones, wearables and alternative currencies all under the same roof.

What appears to be an internal employee notice at McDonald's may signal Android Pay's launch later this week, the blog Android Police reported over the weekend.

As part of the transition to EMV-chip cards in the U.S., some issuers are adding PIN security to cards that used to require only a signature. But as technology advances, the PIN may not provide as much security as consumers believe.

As mobile wallets and other high-tech payment mechanisms proliferate, they bring with them more options for security. Companies are increasingly looking for ways to use devices' built-in cameras to urge consumers to take self-portraits for authentication.

The major U.S. telcos may have abandoned their mobile wallet ambitions when they sold off Softcard, but their power casts a shadow over efforts to build ubiquity across the market.

Heartland Payment Systems has certified Digital Dining and its iPad-based point of sale system for its EMV-ready security technologies.

Harper Reed and Dylan Richard first burst onto Chicago's tech scene as part of Barack Obama's 2012 reelection team, and their social media wizardry is often credited for keeping the president in the White House.

Avidia Bank of Hudson, Mass. has contracted payments technology company FIS to offer card-free ATM transactions through a mobile app.

MasterCard and First Tech Federal Credit Union are testing a system that might be the picture-perfect solution to the expected rise in e-commerce fraud following the October shift to EMV security in the U.S.

The growing adoption of Apple Pay will help Apple's smartwatch capture up to 68 percent of the smartwatch market by the end of the year.

The small merchants that turn to Square for their card acceptance needs are also among the most reluctant to swap out their hardware for devices that can handle EMV-chip cards, so Square is putting into play a strategy that banks have long used to get consumers on board with new technology.

The rise of mobile payments has had only a narrow impact on the use of cash, according to a new report from the ATM Industry Association and business strategy consulting firm Tremont Capital Group.

Rather than compete head-on with Square, Intuit is crafting a strategy of providing software that complements Square's offerings for merchants that have more complex needs.

Canadian payments company DirectCash Payments has unveiled a new payment-capable wristband.

The mobile wallet market is constantly changing, often in unexpected ways. Products have evolved dramatically in a very short amount of time, and companies that seemed committed to one strategy a year ago now find themselves on a completely different path.

Samsung is confident even though its payment service comes almost a year after Apple's. Unlike Apple Pay, Samsung's can work with the magnetic-strip card readers that are common in stores and restaurants. On top of that, Samsung won't charge banks and credit-card issuers transaction fees.

The recent explosion of mobile commerce and payments would not have been possible without open and sharable technology, and the credit union service organization CO-OP Financial Services aims to duplicate that success with its own technology.

The timing brings Samsung's mobile wallet to market just a few weeks shy of Apple Pay's one-year anniversary — and in line with the expected annual refresh of Apple's iPhone line.

WeChat, a smartphone instant-messenger, digital wallet and car-booking service rolled up into one, is probably worth $83.6 billion. As people spend more and more time sending short messages to each other, such services have become some of the hottest technology businesses around.