Mobile payments

Google's first attempt to work with banks in mobile payments was disastrous — it required banks to jump through hoops to link their brand to its wallet app, and only one issuer ever did before Google lowered the hurdle. But with Android Pay, that logic is reversed, and Google is the one going out of its way to be a part of bankers' apps.

Android Pay is far more than a rebranding of Google Wallet. It's a reboot of Google's approach to mobile payments, picking the best of Google Wallet and Apple Pay while shedding the ideas that distract from each product's core focus.

BBVA has introduced technology that its mobile wallet users in Spain may liken to switching channels on a TV.

Google plans to release a new mobile payment system called Android Pay, which will include many of the same features as Apple Pay, while the Google Wallet brand will live on as a peer to peer service.

San Diego-based Mitek, a firm that specializes in capturing mobile data for customer acquisition, has acquired Dutch identity verification company IDchecker.

The use of e-commerce payments technology as a portal to other business services is advancing rapidly, requiring point of sale companies to constantly add new tools that merchants and developers can use to add muscle to transaction venues.

One of the stumbling blocks with the global expansion of digital wallets is the resistance to payment cards in many countries, including India, China and Brazil, notes Forrester Research in a recent report.

U.S. acquirers are looking to expand their business in emerging markets, where small merchants are starting to enter the commercial framework.

China UnionPay Co. introduced the nation’s first wearable payment product as the giant of the Chinese industry moves to defend its turf from other service providers.

Visa and MasterCard's support for host card emulation (HCE) is a boost for mobile pay, though there are still security concerns.

Japan's NTT Docomo has become the first mobile network operator to join the Fast IDentity Online Alliance's board of directors.

Canada’s Beck Taxi has launched a new app that accepts PayPal and card payments and is designed to compete with Uber and Lyft in Canada’s largest city.

Hundreds of banks are supporting Apple Pay, but the cost is sparking a counter movement toward financial institutions operating their own wallets.

Startup CP Security Inc. is taking on tech giant Apple in the digital and mobile payments ring, building what CP Security calls network fabric that will bolster payments security and reduce expense.

It's hard to find a more competitive mobile wallet market than India, with 1.3 billion consumers and multiple viable wallet apps, including Freecharge, Paytm, Citrus Payment, Oxigen, Mobikwik, Zaakpay and ItzCash. But this crowd is competing for a consumer base that favors cash for all transactions.

Mobile wallets and digital currencies are providing an increasingly viable alternative to traditional card payments, prompting Visa Inc. to present a new value proposition to merchants.

While young consumers do not have a past with legacy payments methods and are most open to new innovation, most new payment systems are not adequately focused on the youth market.

Bitcoin startup 21 Inc. has revealed its plans to create a mining chip called a BitShare that would be embeddable into Internet-connected devices to continuously mine bitcoins.

Mobile devices have the potential to improve security through the use of tokenization, biometrics and account controls. But some companies have encountered recurring issues with the transition to mobile payments, and others may overlook beneficial security technologies to reduce friction.

If Verifone wants to benefit from the major card brands' efforts to operate in China, it must confront a virtual army of independent sales organizations already selling low-cost payment terminals.