Mobile wallets

Among consumers who currently use at least one mobile payment app regularly, 29% say they have used Apple Pay in the past month, but other wallets are close behind.

Looking at the rise in issuers that support mobile wallets, one might think the concept has finally gone mainstream. But the actual usage numbers remain dismal, with few indications of what — if anything — will steer the market toward mobile payments.

From gold plating to silicon guts, the plastic card is not what it used to be. Here are some of the most ambitious attempts to make credit and debit cards relevant in a high-tech world.

Shopping and paying for goods with a smartphone or tablet has been a staple of modern consumerism for years, but mobile wallet adoption is just at its early stages, writes Lisa Stanton, president of InAuth.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit and blogs create environments where like-minded users can connect, share opinions and cultivate a sense of camaraderie, creating an unprecedented number of distinct nano-segments, writes Steve Gilde, director of global payments for Paragon.

Starbucks has hit a mobile payments milestone, with 30% of all U.S. transactions now coming through mobile, and to smooth operations surrounding its popular Mobile Order & Pay service, the company is introducing digital-ordering specialists at its busiest stores.

Ant Financial’s Alipay has formed a partnership with a large Malaysian bank, enabling the bank to advance its own mobile payments services using Alipay’s platform.

Citigroup is expanding its payments partnership to allow its card members to use their ThankYou rewards points for purchases at PayPal checkout in the U.S.

Seasoned payments industry observers predicted it would take time for mobile wallets to catch on, but few thought adoption would reverse course so soon.

Cards, e-wallets and transfers are all necessary for merchants to attract younger consumers to recurring payments, writes Artem Tymoshenko, CEO of MaxPay.

Long wait times and improved marketing are a couple of reasons retailers should consider their own apps, writes André Stoorvoge, director of product marketing for payments at Rambus.

Apple's plans to display a bright blue bar on iPhone screens when an application is monitoring the user's location may feel like a threat to location-based marketing. More likely, it is an overdue wake-up call for banks to improve their communication about the benefits of location data.

Apple's plans to display a bright blue bar on iPhone screens when an application is monitoring the user's location may feel like a threat to location-based marketing. More likely, it is an overdue wake-up call for retailers and banks to improve their communication about the benefits of location data.

International cross-border transaction enabler TransferTo has partnered with the e-commerce platform MallforAfrica enabling nearly 300 million African consumers with mobile money accounts to shop abroad.

Chinese tourists visiting Spain will be able to shop at Spanish stores using their Alipay mobile wallets through an agreement between BBVA Group and Ant Financial Services, the Alibaba affiliate that operates Alipay.

For Google and its peers the fine may be the beginning of increased regulatory scrutiny across other digital services within their ecosystems, including payments.

The digital wallet market is expanding quickly, giving banks a chance to cement customer relationships by offering their own apps, writes Mike Lynch, chief strategy officer at InAuth.

Theresa Dold joins LevelUp in the new role of vice president of agency strategy to head the company’s focus on restaurant engagement. Dold previously was director of product at sweetgreen, a fast-casual salad chain that last fall stopped accepting cash payments at some of its stores.

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to go it alone. Lyf Pay is one such case of working to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

Cardholders' familiarity with mobile payments rose slightly during the second quarter of 2017, but overall awareness remains below late 2016 levels.