Mobile payments

At first blush, the new Visa Checkout looks a little too similar to the V.me digital wallet it replaces. But in nearly every aspect of redesigning the product, Visa found some excess baggage that needed to go.

MasterCard will add support for in-app purchasing to its MasterPass digital wallet next month, and has already signed up customers to deploy the feature.

Getting retailers to add mobile payments – or even ban credit cards in favor of mobile – is not impossible. But it just might be easier to get merchants on board with mobile if they haven't even accepted their first payment.

There have literally been dozens of tablet-based point of sale solutions introduced to the retail market and with reason. The demand for a better point of sale software solution has been increasing rapidly.

eBay's two most "extraordinary events" from the first half of the year were a now-resolved conflict with activist investor Carl Icahn and a cyber-attack that created financial headwinds. It is not yet actively searching for a new PayPal president.

Visa introduced a new digital payment system July 16 called Visa Checkout, replacing the V.me digital wallet that formally launched in 2012. The idea is to move away from the "digital wallet" concept and convey a message of simplicity.

Payza is adding new features with the goal of helping merchants improve their conversion rates.

More merchants are interested in accepting payments on tablets and phones, and they have many choices of providers. What are banks and vendors doing to set themselves apart? (Image: ShutterStock)

Powa is reaching out to individual software vendors around the world in an attempt to accelerate integration of its point of sale tools with local mobile apps.

Australian supermarket Coles is launching a tap-and-go mobile wallet to customers this week.

Apple has launched an automated account loading feature in Japan, a product that eliminates the need for plastic gift cards and may signal the beginnings of a pure digital wallet.

First Data Corp. has added technology from Perka, its customer loyalty subsidiary, to its Clover Station point of sale tablets. This is the latest of several updates First Data has made to boost the appeal of its Clover offering.

As Square's competitors pile on features to win business from the mobile payments pioneer, the company may be seeking to one-up its rivals by adding non-payment services.

Affirm, which launched in early 2013 with a product that resembles a digital version of a charge card, is making its payment schedules more flexible in an effort to attract more merchants and consumers.

Apple's iBeacon wireless technology, already used by payment companies like LevelUp and shopkick, may soon be incorporated into Apple-branded hardware, according to a report depicting a diagram Apple submitted to the FCC for certification.

What's in a name? Many payment companies have struggled with this question, finding out too late that the name they chose sent the wrong message or was rendered unusable by situations outside the brand's control.

MasterCard and Sacombank are equipping the Ben Thanh market in Vietnam with mobile point of sale capabilities, introducing digital payments to what had been a cash only market for more than a century.

DoubleBeam, a mobile commerce solutions provider, is partnering with SK Planet Inc. to integrate its Slyde beacon-enabled shopping app into the GoPago mobile point of sale system.

If Seamless Distribution AB is going to pitch U.S. merchants on being able to duplicate the successful Starbucks mobile payment experience at their businesses, its new relationship with prepaid product provider InComm potentially provides a significant boost.

For the financial and retail industries, mobile is becoming a significant part of the strategy for delivering valuable content and services to customers. Two technologies in particular are available on many of today’s smartphones and are being looked at to enhance consumer experience: Near Field Communications (NFC) and Bluetooth low energy (BLE).