POS and Retail

PayPal will offer free payment processing through the end of 2013 to merchants that “trade in” their cash registers and adopt mobile point of sale technologies, in a move to entice small merchants to adopt digital payments.

Groupon's new Breadcrumb POS, a free app enabling merchants to use iPads as point of sale systems, is the latest part of the company's strategy to build a payments business for the small-merchant community it also serves through its daily-deals business.

Australian debit card company eftpos has signed a five-year agreement with mobile wallet technology developer C-Sam.

Mobile pay tech company Boku has entered a carrier billing partnership with Swisscom to provide direct-to-bill payments to more than 6 million customers, or more than 60% of Switzerland's mobile market.

Earlier today Groupon POS, a mobile payment app for merchants using iPads as point of sale systems, was released on iTunes, but the app has since been pulled from the app store.

Visa is adding electronic capabilities to its Visa Offers rewards program, leveraging online and mobile technology to bring offers closer to the point of sale.

Amazon launched its virtual currency, Amazon Coins, giving all U.S. Kindle Fire tablet owners $5 worth of free coins in their Amazon accounts and discounts for purchasing more in bulk.

Simon Haslam is becoming president and CEO of Elavon at a time of extreme stress for payments processors, which face nimble competitors, new payment standards and high-profile security risks.

NorsePayments wants to make it harder for card thieves to perform fraudulent card-not-present transactions.

Newtek Business Services, a New York-based national super-ISO, intends to expand its stable of 10 or so active independent sales organizations to as many as 250.

Through a partnership with Bitcoin payment processor BitPay Inc., Gyft now accepts bitcoins for its mobile gift card product. This extends the virtual currency's reach to more than 50,000 retail locations.

Southwest Airlines, Pacific Convenience & Fuels LLC, RaceTrac and Brinker International Inc. have joined the retailer-driven effort to establish a mobile wallet for merchants and consumers, the Irving, Texas-based MCX announced May 9. Brinker is the parent company of Chili’s Grill & Bar and Maggiano’s Little Italy.

Anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks can again accept credit card donations after Valitor hf, the Icelandic partner of MasterCard Inc. and Visa Europe Ltd., began processing payments after losing a court case.

Advantage Refreshments knows its vending machines look just like those operated by rivals, so it's trying to attract repeat business with a loyalty program from payments hardware maker USA Technologies.

Koupah, which is providing a new point of sale card acceptance tablet, aims to offset credit card transaction fees with ads.

Osama Bedier, Google’s vice president of wallet and payments, is leaving Google.

CardFlight aims to make in-person purchases easier by enabling merchants to accept swiped card payments within their own mobile apps.

U.K. retail giant Marks & Spencer is claiming big results in emerging payments technology.

Simplee uses a personal financial management-style system with payment capabilities to help healthcare providers cut costs by making bill payments more straightforward.

If they haven't already, retailers should begin getting a clearer picture of how to deploy a mobile wallet and loyalty program to their customers.