Mobile payments

Square, which has been scrambling to add fee-based services to pad the revenue it gets from mobile payments, faces a formidable new challenge in Amazon's launch of a rival mobile card reader.

PayRange, a distribution deal with Vistar, is launching a Bluetooth device through that lets laundry machines, vending machines and parking meters accept payments through the consumer's wireless connection.

Amazon.com Inc. has launched a Square-like mobile card reader called Amazon Local Register, charging early adopters just 1.75% per swipe until the end of 2015.

All of us who work in the technology sector can play a part in helping to figure out how to deliver economic services to nearly half of the world’s population, many of whom live without access to basic financial services such as a savings account.

Square recently ended a plastic card project out of concerns it would cause friction with the payment company's financial partners, according to Fast Company.

To understand the future of credit-based transactions, credit unions need only look to the staples of American culture: coffee and donuts.

Two Palladium Group luxury hotels in Ibiza are now offering vacationers the option to use radio frequency identification-enabled wristbands for payments through PayPal.

Western Union has expanded it collaboration with MTN Group to provide mobile money transfers in the Ivory Coast.

Square Appointments, the company's latest fee-based product, is the first in its lineup that can be used by merchants who do not also use Square to accept payments.

As Powa begins integrating its new point of sale system with vendor partners, the company expects its experience with EMV-chip acceptance to be a selling point.

As consumers warm to the idea of using their phones to make payments and manage accounts, they are flocking to merchant apps to do so. Instead of using one unified wallet, a shopper's phone may be stuffed with any of these payment-capable programs.

Wearable computing is suddenly in style. Only a few banks and payment companies offer wristbands, smartwatch apps or Google Glass technology, but those that do are getting valuable feedback from consumers.

Square is the latest technology company to launch a "bug bounty" program, which rewards volunteer hackers for finding security flaws and bringing them to Square's attention.

Many mobile payments vendors pile on features to set themselves apart, but Push for Pizza has a different philosophy. It lets consumers purchase a pizza, and that's it.

It's hard to design a Disney's "Frozen" cake with a cash register, but it works like magic with a tablet, according to Dallas-area Society Bakery.

NXT-ID is working with Joey Fatone, former member of the boy band N*Sync, to kick off a series of celebrity endorsements for its biometric Wocket wallet.

As computing devices get closer to the body, Westpac New Zealand is exploring how wearables such as smartwatches and Google Glass can be used for payments and other financial services.

Wipit has updated its mobile application to allow consumers to make payments by displaying a bar code at the point of sale.

The Oyster contactless payment card is no longer the only fish in the sea for London's mass transit network, which will accept contactless payments via credit and debit cards by mid-September.

Walt Disney Co.'s experiment in payment-capable wearables can probably be declared a success, with the company reporting that about half of Walt Disney World guests sport MagicBands.