Mobile payments

When Google decided to create an iPhone version of its Google Wallet, it turned to Austin-based Mutual Mobile for help — the same app developer that's quietly working on an overhaul of the Isis mobile wallet.

Smaller merchants wanting a foothold in the vast Internet now have the option to open a Heartland Online Storefront.

Zapper is launching a scan-to-pay service that relies on QR codes to facilitate the payment of invoices for small to medium-sized businesses in the U.K.

An iOS version of Google Wallet launches today on the Apple App Store, bringing the search giant's recently revamped mobile wallet to iPhone devices.

It's been five months since PayPal began disseminating its point of sale payment system to all Discover merchants, but First Data, a massive Atlanta-based payment processor, isn't in any rush to support the initiative.

The emergence of mobile payments may seem like a slow crawl now, but as younger consumers mature, they are going to demand more mobile services — and banks need to have services geared to that faster pace.

San Francisco-area transit operators are launching a mobile website to manage the Clipper fare cards.

Revel Systems saw an opportunity in the power outage that halted the last Super Bowl. And it's an opportunity that has started to show results.

Southwestern Advantage, a multi-level marketing company with a model similar to Avon or Amway, relies on college students to sell its educational materials — raising potential risk issues as a young and inexperienced sales force is tasked with protecting payment details.

Payments marketing company edo has launched edo Marketplace, a card-linked offers platform that allows merchants to create their own targeted campaigns.

Google Wallet is getting over its reliance on a small set of Near Field Communication-equipped handsets with a new app that works on any phone running version 2.3 or higher of the Android mobile operating system.

LevelUp's software development kit (SDK), released last week, allows companies such as Zuppler to add mobile payments without drawing users away from the merchant's branded mobile app.

The team behind Bump Technologies has become a part of Google, a move that could potentially combine both companies' payments initiatives.

Consumers in the U.K. using Barclays' Pingit mobile app will now have the option to use it for online purchases.

When Shae Whitney was selling bitters at farmer's markets for a year and a half, she used Square's mobile card reader to accept payments. But when she opened a retail location with her partner in June, she switched to Groupon's iPad-based point of sale system, Breadcrumb.

Infobip is planning to grow its mobile payments and consulting business in the U.S., betting the robust consumer adoption of mobile technology will create a substantial opportunity for carrier billing.

There has been an avalanche of new mobile technology in just the past few weeks. The iPhone 5s, Samsung Galaxy Gear and Google Moto X bring with them a wide range of new systems for payments — and companies like PayPal and Fiserv are making noise with new products of their own.

The developers who have an early look at Apple's new iOS7 operating system have found it supports the use of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a wireless technology that some consider a longer-range alternative to Near Field Communication (NFC).

As banks desperately try to lower their risk at the point of sale, a San Jose startup is working to create a device ID and authentication scheme that it hopes will eventually reduce fraud.

Payment processor Cynergy is getting into the mobile point of sale game, hoping its existing mix of merchant services and mobile technology will capture attention in a crowded market.