Wearable payments

In an increasingly digital world, retailers are working to bring transactions closer to the shopper and further away from traditional hardware.

Samsung, terminal manufacturer Ingenico and Swiss app developer Smartlink are teaming up on an odd premise: Rather than treat wearables as vessels for a mobile wallet, treat those devices as a handful of bills and coins.

Consumers who prefer fancy designer watches will soon have the option to add contactless payments to their bling, as Movado Group rolls out a crop of stylish watches with Android Pay built in.

After two years of development and fundraising, Kerv Wearables says it is launching the Kerv Ring as a contactless payment device using a Mastercard prepaid account and the card brand's EMV chip technology.

When Visa turned part of its technology shop into an innovator's sandbox, the card brand hoped it would accelerate its evolution from a rail for plastic cards to a diverse commerce enabler.

Barclaycard has embedded payments technology in lots of wearables over the past few years, including gloves and jewelry.

LG is rethinking its strategy around LG Pay and its newest smartphone, the G6, won’t include a mobile payments feature when it’s unveiled later this month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

The first smartwatch in Google's Android Wear lineup supporting NFC payments will soon be available from South Korea’s LG, according to reports.

As technology evolves, payment capabilities become more deeply embedded, becoming practically invisible to the end user. This concept works already in specific use cases such as Uber, and many companies have yearned to implement a hands-free payment experience for all of retail.

With its WaveShades, Visa engages in a delicate balancing act of making its new payment wearable cool and trendy as any other fashion accessory without invoking the geekiness of the ill-fated Google Glass.