Mobile payments

The likes of Apple and Amazon are becoming bigger threats to incumbent payments companies, but MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga says his company views these players as potential allies.

A professor is suing the payments company Square over charges that he was shut out of the startup he says he helped create.

Payline Data wants to add smaller businesses to its roster of merchant services clients, and figures "no swipe" mobile payments is good way to get in the door.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is changing his responsibilities to place a greater emphasis on mobile payments and other digital initiatives.

Starbucks CFO Troy Alstead has been promoted to become the company's chief operating officer, a new position, in a move meant to place more emphasis on the coffee company's digital and mobile plans.

Oberthur Technologies is offering its MoreMagic mobile wallet technology to the unbanked population of Myanmar through the country's Myanmar Mobile Money Co. Ltd.

Mitek Systems is ready to officially roll out its Mobile Photo Payments technology, allowing consumers to use a smartphone or tablet camera to snap photos of bills, checks or payment cards to initiate a payment.

Mike Liberatore has become the new chief financial officer at the payments startup Clinkle.

Mobile app developer Photopon is launching technology that lets merchants customize its photo-based offer system.

Apple Inc. has taken its time to establish a potential foothold in payments, never seeming to follow the path set by its rivals and never seeming to indicate just how close it is to the finish line.

PayPal's adjustments to its developer program will provide an early look at how the company's Braintree acquisition will change PayPal's approach to new payments technology.

While this still hinders some customers' adoption of their bank or credit union's mobile bill pay offerings, in reality, today's technology has made mobile bill pay more secure and easier than ever before.

Mobile carriers are becoming more heavily involved in the payments world. Many are spearheading tests and full deployments of mobile wallets throughout the world, and some like T-Mobile are launching prepaid cards as well.

Incipio's Cashwrap sleeve for Apple iPhones, announced a year ago as a companion to the Isis mobile wallet, will soon be available for purchase at AT&T company-owned stores.

Finnish bank OP-Pohjola has introduced a mobile point of sale system designed to help consumers take advantage of local tax breaks.

Nearly 10 million Starbucks customers use its mobile app to make payments, totaling close to 5 million mobile payments a week, the company reports.

Paydiant has received a patent covering technology that allows consumers to withdraw cash out of ATMs with their smartphones, a feature that it says should appeal to banks.

Vienna-based prepaid payment provider paysafecard has updated its mobile app to include augmented reality, a technology that displays data over a view of the physical world.

Swedish mobile point of sale company iZettle has launched a software development kit (SDK) to allow other companies to leverage iZettle's technology to build payments services.

Mobile shopping provider Airtag has developed a mobile wallet service for international grocery chain Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentacion SA, allowing customers to order and pay for groceries prior to pickup.