Retailers

First Data Corp. has added technology from Perka, its customer loyalty subsidiary, to its Clover Station point of sale tablets. This is the latest of several updates First Data has made to boost the appeal of its Clover offering.

As Square's competitors pile on features to win business from the mobile payments pioneer, the company may be seeking to one-up its rivals by adding non-payment services.

There’s a paradox at the heart of mobile payments’ spectacular growth. On a global basis, the use of mobile devices for payments of all kinds is booming: Gartner Group projected worldwide mobile payment transactions for 2013 would total $235.4 billion, an impressive 44% increase over the previous year’s $163.1 billion. Future forecasts for mobile’s growth are equally rosy: Yankee Group now projects that the entire mobile economy will be valued at $3.1 trillion by 2017, with all mobile sectors—devices, commerce, broadband, apps and cloud—contributing to the potential earnings.

Bitcoin enthusiasts are serious about Bitcoin merchant adoption, some might even say obsessed. But cryptocurrency nerds may find their obsession lucrative with BitPay's referral program.

American Express’ network rules have deterred Discover from using lower interchange rates to lure more merchants, a high-ranking Discover executive testified in federal court July 10.

Affirm, a consumer finance service in San Francisco, has introduced Split Pay, a program that allows online merchants to offer consumers competitive installment-based payments at the point of sale.

Oink is partnering with Optimal Payments to provide an payments option for products purchased online.

PayPal may not be trying to become a merchant's bank in providing working capital and next-day settlement on fund transfers, but the payments unit of eBay Inc. is trying to make it harder for its merchants to consider another provider.

Successful retailers know that the secret to selling more can be a relatively straightforward formula: Increased traffic equals increased sales. But what about the costs associated with generating that traffic?

Braintree has launched a toolset for developers that integrates directly with PayPal, which acquired Braintree in 2013.

Diebold Inc. is selling Diebold ERAS Inc., the company's image-based check processing and remittance services, to CheckAlt LLC.

Merchants who have been quick to complain about the cost of accepting card payments at the point of sale haven't always calculated the true cost of accepting cash in comparison, a new Aite Group study says.

PayPal is offering certain businesses the ability to access funds from transfers between PayPal accounts and the business' bank account within 24 hours, instead of the three to four days it typically takes.

Alternative finance provider CAN Capital is offering its payments industry partners a digital platform to give merchant clients a fast application process for funds.

Bindo wants to combine its cloud-based iPad point of sale product with an online marketplace, similar to how Square's iPad system links merchants to Square Marketplace. This hybrid approach is meant to make Bindo more appealing to local merchants.

Ingenico Group, a French maker of payment terminals, said it's in exclusive talks to acquire GlobalCollect in a deal valuing the target at 820 million euros ($1.1 billion).

A veteran acquiring executive describes recent changes at First Data Corp. as "the awakening of a sleeping giant" that has placed a renewed emphasis on independent sales organizations and sales agents.

The telco is offering Payleven's hardware to enable its small-business customers to comply with an Italian mandate to cut back on cash use.

Revel has added a dashboard for Yelp and Foursquare to its point of sale tablet, giving businesses a way to respond immediately to any complaints or praise posted to social media.

SCVNGR's LevelUp, which is not content to listen only to its merchant clients, is once again giving consumers a voice in evaluating its mobile payments experience.