POS and Retail

When Apple revealed that Starbucks plans to accept Apple Pay in its U.S. stores, the move spoke less to Apple's persuasiveness and more to the fallout of the country's ongoing shift to EMV security.

EMV card acceptance has often been pitched as a catalyst for mobile wallets, since the terminal upgrades needed to accept EMV-chip cards could also enable contactless mobile payments. But mobile and EMV are not always on the same path.

Apple Inc. is rolling out its mobile-payments service for select Starbucks Corp. stores by the end of the year, and will reach 7,500 company-owned stores in 2016, the coffee chain said in a statement. KFC stores and Chili’s Grill & Bar will make Apple Pay available in next year as well, Jennifer Bailey, the Apple vice president in charge of the service, said at the Code/Mobile conference Oct. 8.

Adoption of mobile payments has been slow, and it's not clear why. Some have suggested the problem is a lack of understanding among consumers. Others have questioned whether mobile payments really address a consumer pain point.

Fifth Third Bank has formed a partnership with cloud-based payment and digital banking provider Bottomline Technologies to provide electronic payment services to the bank’s business customers.

Europe has been a clear leader in the adoption of EMV. One notable migration took place in the United Kingdom. The U.K. began the process of promoting EMV in 2002 and completed the full roll out in 2006.

When Cumberland Farms said this month that it had processed $1 billion worth of gas via its decoupled debit card over the course of nearly three years, it was the latest example of the power of the decoupled debit card. And yet, other than Target's RED card, decoupled debit has barely moved beyond the convenience and petroleum segment.

JetPay Payment Services has chosen debit technology and processing veteran Thomas Tesmer as its new chief operating officer.

Well-prepared and adaptable merchant acquirers can turn the tech disturbance to their advantage—that is, if they can meet the following major challenges.

Like everywhere else on the planet, African retailers are struggling with the mobile payment chicken-and-egg dilemma — how can they accept mobile payments if consumers aren't using the technology?

Gas stations have had a complicated relationship with mobile wallets. Pump hardware is notoriously difficult to upgrade, and besides that, many consumers believe that it's a fire hazard to use their phones while fueling up.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Visa Inc. are in talks aimed at settling the retailer’s $5 billion lawsuit over processing fees.

Since mobile app purchases are of little use to retailers if consumers bail on the transaction, technology vendors are keener than ever to cure 'cart abandonment.'

The gaming market is evolving and becoming more lucrative by the year. As developers continually aim to recreate new ways to monetize game content, mobile payment operators hold a unique position in this profitable market.

FPS Trust Co. and its sister company HealthSavings Administrators have integrated technology from the processor Total System Services into their operation.

Twitter Inc. named co-founder Jack Dorsey as chief executive officer, betting its co-founder and former leader will be able to revive fortunes at a social-media company that failed to impress investors following its 2013 initial public offering.

Though the EMV transition is a significant step in the effort towards making payments more secure, this EMV liability shift won’t solve mass data breaches on merchants.

Expanding upon an existing partnership, cloud-based e-commerce provider Bigcommerce and mobile card acceptance provider Square Inc. will offer retailers a new way to manage inventory from physical and online stores.

E-commerce merchants aren't supposed to be directly affected by the U.S. shift to EMV-chip cards at the point of sale, but they will face several unintended consequences of the increase in payment card security.

It was expected that e-commerce giant PayPal would develop and complete new partnerships after its official spinoff from eBay Inc. last summer.