The mobile platform wars escalated once again in the first quarter of 2012 as BlackBerry finally took the wraps off its much-anticipated new operating system. Meanwhile Android continued to build on its dominance both worldwide and in the U.S., cementing a two-horse race with Apple. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The mobile payments company says it now supports more cards in more countries than any of its many rivals, which include Square, iZettle, Payleven, Adyen and mPowa. Read more »
MasterCard and Deutsche Telekom announced a partnership today that will bring NFC contactless payments to DT’s 93 million mobile customers in Europe. That puts more momentum behind NFC payments and potentially sets up 2013 as a big break-out year for contactless payments. Read more »
MasterCard is expanding its mobile payment service PayPass into a larger platform called PayPass Wallet Services that will enable PayPal-like online payments and will include APIs for developers to integrate their payment apps and services with PayPass. Read more »
Media issues like advertising and discovery along with commerce dominated the activity in social and real-time Web technologies during the first quarter. Google raised some hackles, Facebook responded to demands from traditional advertisers, and Yahoo got a new chief executive. Read more in the full report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
BonaYou, which lets people send prepaid Mastercards as gifts to their Facebook friends, has just received cash to help it expand across Europe this year Read more »
Mobile deals combine location-aware discounts with mobile marketing campaigns. What are the largest pitfalls in this promising space, though? Privacy and security issues must be addressed to assure consumers their purchases are secure and their location is being closely guarded. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
With new products from a variety of players like Google and Isis comes a potentially confusing year as the term “mobile wallet” gets thrown around repeatedly. What exactly is the “mobile wallet”? Here are some important definitions for those looking to make a move in the space. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
MasterCard is rolling out the first trial of its QkR mobile application, which allows people to interact and initiate payments via QR codes, NFC tags and other technologies. It is allowing Australian movie goers to order and pay for food from their seat. Read more »
MFoundry has emerged as a leader in mobile banking, providing its Software-as-a-Service model to almost 600 banks, credit unions and other financial institutions. Now it’s raising $18 million from MasterCard, Intel Capital and others to expand its mobile banking business into mobile payments. Read more »
MasterCard and mFoundry are poised to help banks launch potentially hundreds of NFC-based mobile wallets with a new partnership that will allow banks that use mFoundry for mobile banking apps to add support for contactless PayPass payments, turning those mobile banking apps into digital wallets. Read more »
If it seems like the mobile world has been talking nonstop about the potential for mobile payments all year, it’s because we have been. Ther… Read more at paidContent »
As our demand for data increases, so too do the number of mobile devices and services. Add to that the infrastructure needed to support such connectivity, and a wide, complex picture of the mobile industry emerges. This report examines the various sectors of the mobile landscape and what the future holds for each. Hardware, cloud services, mobile search, advertising, location-based services and the growing ubiquity of the Internet of Things will all play an important role in the concept of mobility as it shifts and evolves over the next several years. With the help of more than a dozen contributors, GigaOM Pro presents a comprehensive analysis of the companies and trends that will lead us into the next era of mobile. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
MasterCard showed off a handful of projects Thursday that highlighted how it can leverage mobile phones to encourage shopping using a variety of technologies, from QR codes and NFC to audio signals and also motion control. The technology could be out on the market in months. Read more »
Mobile payments — payments initiated by a phone for a transaction at a physical point of sale or online — will total over $750 billion worldwide by 2015, and many predict they will soon begin to replace a typical credit card transaction. This report analyzes and forecasts the mobile payments industry, from its current technologies to the companies implementing them and the trends we can expect in the coming months. Much of the near-term growth of mobile payments will be driven by near-field communication (NFC) technology, but QR and 2D bar codes, mobile POS systems and SMS transactions are also important platforms for companies to consider when creating business models and strategies. Meanwhile, services from the likes of MasterCard, Nokia, Amazon and Google offer examples for others to follow and clues into the future of the industry. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Research in Motion, T-Mobile, Zong and Groupon. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Isis, the carrier led near NFC mobile payment platform, revamped its approach this spring in favor of a more open system that invited credit card companies to join its digital wallet. Today, Isis announced that it’s signed up Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover as partners. Read more »
Google launched its big push into mobile payments with the introduction of a new payment platform called Google Wallet based NFC technology. The company said it will pair contactless payments with Google Offers to help retailers and merchants strengthen their ties to consumers. Read more »
Making wireless payments using near field communications just became a little easier for customers of Carta Worldwide, a global payment solutions provider that is the first company to integrate with MasterCard’s Mobile Over-the-Air Provisioning Service. Could NFC payments arrive sooner rather than later as a result? Read more »
Visa’s investment in Square is the latest move by big credit card companies to better position themselves for the coming mobile payments boom. The companies need to stay active in this market or risk being bypassed. We look at the efforts of the big three. Read more »
On a panel of mobile payments providers at GigaOM’s Mobilize 2010, everyone was happy to agree that mobile payments are finally getting their day in the sun due to the growth of smartphones, mobile application platforms, and the sheer market size of 5 billion phones. Read more »
MasterCard has launched its MoneySend service on the BlackBerry, taking aim at PayPal in the growing mobile payment business. MoneySend is a virtual prepaid credit card that customers can link with existing bank accounts and credit cards to send and receive personal payments on the BlackBerry. Read more »
MasterCard today announced it has agreed to acquire DataCash, a European payment service provider, for $520 million in a transaction expected to close by this October. The deal is expected to boost MasterCard’s services in Europe, but more importantly, will bring additional mobile and e-commerce products. Read more »
Customer satisfaction with the top 40 U.S. online retailers during the holiday season was higher than it ever has been before, according to a newly released survey. Amazon set a new high on ForeSee’s index, scoring 87 of 100, with Netflix one point behind. Read more »
MasterCard and Blaze Mobile today unveiled stickers that can be attached to mobile phones and used to charge purchases at existing PayPass payment readers. PayPass is MasterCard’s mobile payments processing effort currently in use at gas stations, supermarkets and other stores. The RFID sticker, offered by […] Read more »
Expense reporting is always, in my experience, very painful. Filling out a poorly-formatted spreadsheet masquerading as an “expense claim form,” printing it out, stapling receipts to the form, realizing you’ve lost a crucial receipt, and then the inevitable back and forth before reimbursement. It’s a messy […] Read more »
