The Sprint prepaid brand is testing out a financial services app that allows you to pay bills, transfer funds and cash checks within a mobile app. For physical transactions, Boost is supplying a prepaid Visa card. Read more »
Square has launched an under-the-radar payments service that lets customers transfer cash through email. It’s certainly not a new concept, but it’s another tool in Square’s arsenal as it delves deeper into the consumer market. Read more »
NCR is the top supplier of retail point-of-sale software for U.S. restaurants, so for LevelUp, getting its mobile payments app to work with NCR’s systems for dining transactions is key. Read more »
Google has reportedly abandoned plans to launch a physical Google Wallet card. The company’s mobile payment system has been slow to take off. Read more »
Francoise Brougher was in charge of Google’s mammoth small business advertising unit, which should serve her well in growing Square’s customer base at home and internationally. Read more »
See someone tweet about a product you’d like to buy? If Ribbon, the mobile payments company, has its way, purchasing that item will require just few clicks, and you won’t have to leave Twitter. Read more »
PayPal is offering two new extensions that will let Magento’s merchants set up shop in PayPal’s mobile app and support mobile payments anywhere in their stores. Read more »
Braintree is ramping up its mobile presence thanks to its recent purchase of Venmo. Using the peer-to-peer payment technology, Braintree is creating an in-app customer identity network that can be used to buy goods across iOS apps. Read more »
Masabi is a U.K. startup specializing and cloud-based smartphone ticketing technologies for public transit, and it just landed a $2.8 million strategic investment led by Bill Ford’s Fontinalis Venutures. Read more »
PayPal acknowledges that its developer program hasn’t exactly wowed web developers and app makers in the past. But the company plans to make amends at SXSW. Read more »
The OneAPI Exchange will get carriers into the identity verification business, but more significantly it’s the first carrier developer service designed to work universally across all carriers’ networks. Read more »
PayPal’s Here mobile payments service is bound for Europe, launching first in the U.K. over the next few months. Instead of the card-swiper used in the U.S., Europe will get a new Chip & PIN device. Read more »
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 »
The carriers’ mobile payments initiative may have gotten off to a slow start, but an Isis official executive its trial a success in Salt Lake City as customers become active users of the service. Read more »
Square is now in Verizon as well as AT&T stores. Working with the carriers gets Square closer to small business customers right as they’re buying their smartphones, and so far carriers aren’t asking for a cut. Read more »
We’ve heard it before: So-and-so year will be the year of the mobile payments. A group of mobile industry experts, however, believes 2013 will be the real deal. Google and the carriers had their chance. Now it’s the banks’ turn. Read more »
Just seven months after introducing Sail, a payment platform for small merchants that competed with Square, VeriFone is now saying it is retreating from that business and will look to banks and other channel partners to sell the service to merchants. Read more »
Businesses interested in recreating the success of the Starbucks mobile app have a new option in Cardfree, a startup that is launching with $10 million and is led by a team that helped build the Starbucks mobile experience. Read more »
Square is enabling gift cards for the first time, allowing its users to send presents to each other that can be redeemed at Square merchants. The system also works with Apple Passbook for iOS 6 users. Read more »
Everyone may be focused on the forthcoming T-Mobile iPhone, but T-Mo revealed a strategy Thursday that will have far greater implications for the mobile industry. By eliminating subsidies it’s changing the way phones and services are sold and altering the consumer’s relationship to the carrier. Read more »
Mobile payment startup LevelUp is trying to be as open as it can be in what its chief said is an Android approach to payments. By offering white labels apps and an API, LevelUp is hoping to gain wide acceptance with consumers and merchants. Read more »
LevelUp said it’s the first mobile payment service to serve every point of sale in a major sporting venue. It’s launching at the KFC Yum Center in Louisville, where users can pay with LevelUp at 200 concession stands. Read more »
Square has had a whirlwind year, inking a deal with Starbucks, raising $200 million and pushing its annualized processing rate to $10 billion. Now it’s looking ahead to 2013, when it will establish itself as a global brand. Read more »
Bank of America is launching its own Square competitor called Mobile Pay on Demand, which comes with a payment dongle and offers 2.7 percent transaction fees. It’s a me-too product but it represents how competitive it’s getting in the mobile payment acceptance market. Read more »
Tabbedout, a mobile payment system for the hospitality industry, is arming its merchants with customer relationship management tools so they can better understand who their guests are and offer them more personalized service. Read more »
Starbucks customers can now use the Square Wallet mobile payment app to pay for their coffee. We take a look at how it work, what its limitations are and what it means for the larger mobile payment market. Read more »
Android Police has gotten a hold of a leaked version of a new Google Wallet which suggests the company is preparing to release physical Google Wallet cards to work alongside its NFC-based mobile payment system. Read more »
With Square still out of the picture, Europe is becoming a battleground for its clones. And, fresh from an American Express cash boost, Sweden’s iZettle is taking on Germany’s Payleven on its own turf. Read more »
Isis hasn’t taken Austin by storm, but it’s not a bad experience. A mobile payments platform should either be super convenient or replace my wallet and for me, Isis doesn’t do either. But depending on where you shop it may offer more for you. Read more »
Square is launching in Canada Wednesday, its first international market. Merchants in Canada will be able to take credit card payments through their iPhone, iPad or Android device. Read more »
Isis, the mobile payment effort launched by the carriers, has launched in Austin, Texas, but I couldn’t find many places that knew about the program or said they accepted Isis payments, despite being listed as participating merchants. This wasn’t the launch I was looking for. Read more »
Google is working on an update to Google Wallet and it may include support for the iPhone. New users who request an invite to the next version of Google Wallet are asked what phone they use: Android, iPhone or other. Read more »
Square is growing like a weed and that means only one thing: new digs. It has signed a lease for a new headquarters building in San Francisco, a block away from Twitter. Square expects to have nearly 1,000 employees by the end of next year. Read more »
After missing its planned summer launch, mobile payment joint venture Isis is now finally live in its first two test cities of Austin and Salt Lake City. Users can try out Isis on nine handsets from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. Read more »
After delaying its summer launch, Isis, the mobile payment joint venture from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, is now set to roll out on Oct. 22. At least 20 handsets will support Isis this year. Read more »
Square’s test of mobile payments in New York taxis has officially come to an end. The startup is terminating its memorandum of understanding with the city because it said it wants to pursue a different hardware and software combination. Read more »
An internal document from mobile payment system Isis suggests the joint venture will launch in its two pilot cities on Oct. 22. Isis, which is backed by Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, previously missed its summer launch and no launch date has been announced. Read more »
Groupon is increasing its bet on payments with the introduction of Breadcrumb, an iPad point of sale system designed for restaurants and hospitality customers. The move pits Groupon against Square Register and shows how Groupon continues to expand beyond daily deals. Read more »
Square is launching a web-based directory of merchants who take Square and Pay with Square payments. The service is limited for now but shows how Square can be a better resource for its merchants and better local discovery tool for consumers. Read more »
Square is increasing its emphasis on design with the acquisition of New York firm 80/20, which has about a dozen designers who specialize in user interfaces. The acquisition also helps Square expand to New York for the first time. Read more »
