Mobile payments

SCVNGR's LevelUp has seen a sharp rise in spending at merchants that use iBeacon, Apple's version of a Bluetooth Low Energy system for detecting consumers and providing location-based offers.

Chick-Fil-A has joined a growing number of quick-service franchises that are testing or deploying a mobile payment app for customers.

Swedish mobile payments provider Seamless has entered a distribution deal with retail tech provider PCMS Group.

PNC Financial Services has begun offering a new tool for merchants to accept payments on their mobile devices.

Powa's Asia Pacific strategy took a fortuitous leap when MPayMe became available to acquire, says CEO Dan Wagner.

While there is much attention on mobile payments at the point of sale, several companies are working on mobile payments for commuting, parking and other scenarios where a mobile app could replace a paper ticket or fare card. But it hasn't always been a smooth ride for these new technologies.

BlackBerry has suffered its share of lumps in the payment market, but it has scored an apparent victory in a partnership deal with Canadian mobile payment venture EnStream, which is owned by Bell, Rogers and Telus.

API Software Inc. has created a mobile app for independent sales organizations to help merchants tabulate the best payment services deals.

Zimbabwe-based banking software provider Edgetech Solutions has begun testing EdgePay, a payment system that uses sound waves to provide added security at the point of sale.

Powa Technologies Group is buying Hong Kong-based mobile payments processor MPayMe.

Google has made its Instant Buy API technology compatible with Apple devices.

Tax compliance provider Avalara has made many connections within the payments industry to respond to merchant demand for built-in tax reporting functions at the point of sale.

Imagine that one day people from your country’s rural areas start paying with their mobiles. Would it be strange? Definitely. That would mean they are more advanced in mobile payments adoption than the majority of people living in cities, who still prefer to use plastic.

While banks struggle to get consumers to use Near Field Communication-enabled phones for mobile payments, the video game industry is having blockbuster success with NFC technology.

Barclays' April Fool's Day joke last year was a video about PayWag, a contactless payment system built into dog collars. In hindsight, maybe this wasn't a prank but an early prototype for bPay, the company's new payment-capable wristband for humans.

Expresscoin is launching a digital currency purchasing platform that the company says will offer the "personal customer service" that has been missing from the Bitcoin environment.

As Monitise debuts its new mobile design and development service, it's weighing how its clients view payments as a complement to their other business lines.

American Express Co. is entering partnerships that aggressively take aim at a very specific segment of spending: fare for taxis and other hired cars.

Just before eBay selected David Marcus to run PayPal in 2012, it named a number of executives who could have been prospects for the role. Now, as Marcus leaves to take a job at Facebook, some of these other executives may be in line to fill his shoes — but PayPal may also seek out new talent.

Israeli contactless payment technology provider On Track Innovations (oti) is expanding its reach to enable self-service payments on several fronts.