Mobile payments

As more mobile wallets come to market, security becomes a more common selling point. Some stick to tried-and-true methods like typing a PIN or password, but others are experimenting with less conventional ideas.

Throughout all of 2014, only 22% of consumers surveyed for an annual Federal Reserve Board study said they initiated a mobile payment during the year. This was just five percentage points more than the prior year, despite 2014 bringing the launch of Apple Pay.

Innovation is not a competition. If both incumbents and startups in the fintech market would just accept that, mobile wallets and broader payments applications would have already been realized, according to Jonathan Vaux, executive director of Visa Europe.

Waffle House is proudly behind the curve—its wait staff verbally calls in cook-to-order meals, it didn't take credit cards until 2006, and it has long used old-fashioned cash registers.

The launch of Apple Pay late last year was bound to shake up the crowded and fragmented mobile payments market. Banks now face more pressure to make the right plays in this space or else lose their customers.

CardFlight has released a new reader for its SwipeSimple mobile point of sale offering to accept EMV-chip cards.

PayStand is launching a new mobile payment app and card reader to accept credit card payments, but promises to cut merchants' costs by also accepting e-checks and Bitcoin.

Google's planned integration of bill pay and presentment with its immensely popular Gmail service could quickly scoop away one of the stickiest offerings of online banking sites.

Elizabeth Buse will become sole CEO for UK-based mobile banking provider Monitise Plc in a company shakeup stemming from a failure to attract a buyer in the first three months of 2015.

Google probably could have hired anyone it wanted to be chief financial officer. For those trying to ascertain why Google chose Ruth Porat of Morgan Stanley, her experience in banking is likely one of her key selling points.

Selfies, or self-portraits typically taken with a smartphone's camera, are an all-too-common consumer habit. And the practice is now migrating to formal business use, such as for authentication.

Zumigo, an identity provider, is expanding the reach of its mobile location verification service to online merchants.

Mobile payments will replace cash and cards. Or the technology will stall for lack of consumer interest. It all depends on which report you read.

Matt Swann, who was in charge of Amazon Register and the defunct Amazon Wallet, has left Amazon.com for a role at Citigroup, according to a report by TechCrunch.

The mobile wallet market takes no prisoners. Startups and big companies have an even playing field, and many have already scrapped one or more products — while others have given up the fight entirely.

In just one week, Swedish company Seamless has expanded its SEQR mobile payment service to three more countries in Europe.

Everlink Payment Services has created a prototype wearable payment device that works with Interac Flash.

Flint Mobile is joining the many technology companies that are evolving from their roots as payment providers to become enablers of a broad range of services.

The coffee chain announced plans on March 18 to begin testing delivery in New York and Seattle, with the iconic 102-story office tower serving as its Big Apple proving ground. In New York, customers will order through a Starbucks website and eventually transition to its mobile app.

Apple's Near Field Communication-based wallet was not universally welcomed by banks and merchants, but the in-app Apple Pay system is steadily gaining momentum as more retailers see it as a way to latch onto Apple's cachet without overhauling their point of sale.