Subscriber Content

The internet of things: a market landscape

By Jon Collins

59 mins ago Jun. 18, 2013 - 11:55 PM PDT

What can we expect the IoT landscape to look like, and how will its impact be felt? And is the attention being given by governments, manufacturers, and industry players merited, or is this just a fad? In this paper we look at the trends leading the growth of the internet of things, its components, and its characteristics. We examine the scale of the different opportunities and early examples of use cases. Finally, we look at potential inhibitors to adoption and potential challenges, notably around security, privacy, and system failure. Read more at GigaOM Pro »

iZettle breaks out of Europe, bringing its mobile payments service to Mexico

By Kevin Fitchard

16 hours ago Jun. 18, 2013 - 8:30 AM PDT

photo: iZettle

Sweden’s iZettle is now at Square’s doorstep thanks to help from Banco Santander. The company has updated its credit card reader for the North American market. Could a push into the U.S. be far behind? Read more »

Punchey puts up its dukes to challenge Square in the mobile payments ring

By Kevin Fitchard

19 hours ago Jun. 18, 2013 - 6:00 AM PDT

Punchey hopes to carve off a piece of mobile credit card payments market by charging lower fees for high-dollar transactions. Read more »

iZettle, Square’s European cousin, gets €5M infusion from Banco Santander

By Kevin Fitchard

Jun. 11, 2013 - 8:51 AM PDT Jun. 11, 2013 - 8:51 AM PDT

iZettle will start offering its credit card reader to its U.K. banking customers. That gives iZettle another key distribution point as it waits for Square and PayPal to challenge it in Europe. Read more »

The digital-wallet business is rough — just ask Google

By Lauren Hockenson

Jun. 7, 2013 - 3:20 PM PDT Jun. 7, 2013 - 3:20 PM PDT

photo: Google

Pouring money into Google Wallet is getting Google nowhere. Slow adoption, reluctant phone carriers and lack of enthusiasm for NFC are weighing heavy on the mobile payments trend, and something’s got to give. Read more »

Stripe tweaks its payment tech for the collaborative consumption economy

By Kevin Fitchard

Jun. 5, 2013 - 3:54 PM PDT Jun. 5, 2013 - 3:54 PM PDT

photo: Stripe

New peer-to-peer marketplaces like AirBnB and Lyft require that multiple people get paid from a single transaction. Stripe is simplifying that process by supporting complex payment models. Read more »

US mobile wallet users spent $500M in 2012 – nearly all of it at Starbucks

By Kevin Fitchard

Jun. 4, 2013 - 9:09 AM PDT Jun. 4, 2013 - 9:09 AM PDT

While other mobile wallet companies struggle to build up their customer and retail bases, Starbucks is rocking the still nascent in-store digital payments market. Read more »

Telefonica is setting up a digital services firm with Spanish banks

By David Meyer

May. 30, 2013 - 4:54 AM PDT May. 30, 2013 - 4:54 AM PDT

This is more than just a partnership: it’s a full-blown joint venture that will see a new company tackle P2P mobile payments and create a digital “community” for retailers and customers around the world. Read more »

Boost’s new Mobile Wallet is coming to Virgin and maybe even Sprint

By Kevin Fitchard

May. 22, 2013 - 9:20 AM PDT May. 22, 2013 - 9:20 AM PDT

photo: Sprint

Sprint has big plans for its digital wallet. It wants to become a “virtual bank” for customers who don’t have checking accounts and a supplemental financial service for those that do. Read more »

Boost Mobile applies a unique spin on the mobile wallet

By Kevin Fitchard

May. 21, 2013 - 1:55 PM PDT May. 21, 2013 - 1:55 PM PDT

photo: Boost Mobile

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 will challenge PayPal with its own peer-to-peer cash service

By Kevin Fitchard

May. 20, 2013 - 5:44 PM PDT May. 20, 2013 - 5:44 PM PDT

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 »

LevelUp partners with NCR to bring mobile payments to more restaurants

By Kevin Fitchard

May. 20, 2013 - 5:00 AM PDT May. 20, 2013 - 5:00 AM PDT

photo: LevelUp

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 »

Struggling Google Wallet reportedly abandons the idea of plastic cards

By Laura Hazard Owen

May. 10, 2013 - 12:13 PM PDT May. 10, 2013 - 12:13 PM PDT

photo: Android Police

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 »

Subscriber Content

Why mobile must be part of the shopping experience

By Phil Hendrix

Apr. 25, 2013 - 1:10 PM PDT Apr. 25, 2013 - 1:10 PM PDT

From shopping and buying to owning and using products, consumers’ experiences largely determine the success of both retailers and brands. By voting with their feet, wallets, and social media, consumers reward companies that make their lives easy, risk-free, and pleasurable. As proof, you can witness the […] Read more at GigaOM Pro »

Square hires ex-Googler to handle global expansion, partnerships

By Kevin Fitchard

Apr. 25, 2013 - 11:20 AM PDT Apr. 25, 2013 - 11:20 AM PDT

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 »

Ribbon announces in-stream Twitter payments so you can purchase while you tweet

By Eliza Kern

Apr. 10, 2013 - 11:00 AM PDT Apr. 10, 2013 - 11:00 AM PDT

photo: Shutterstock / Mati Nitibhon

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 »

eBay’s PayPal and Magento join hands to offer a mobile payment service

By Kevin Fitchard

Apr. 10, 2013 - 9:00 AM PDT Apr. 10, 2013 - 9:00 AM PDT

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 »

Subscriber Content

Mobile first-quarter 2013: analysis and outlook

By Colin Gibbs

Apr. 9, 2013 - 11:55 PM PDT Apr. 9, 2013 - 11:55 PM PDT

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 »

Braintree opens up Venmo in-app payments to all iOS developers

By Kevin Fitchard

Apr. 4, 2013 - 7:00 AM PDT Apr. 4, 2013 - 7:00 AM PDT

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 »

Bill Ford (yes, that Ford) invests in public transit, backing mobile ticketing firm Masabi

By Kevin Fitchard

Mar. 20, 2013 - 10:51 AM PDT Mar. 20, 2013 - 10:51 AM PDT

Bill (William) Ford, executive chairman, Ford Motor

photo: Flickr / jurvetson

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 revamps developer program with new iOS SDK, retooled APIs

By Kevin Fitchard

Mar. 8, 2013 - 9:18 AM PDT Mar. 8, 2013 - 9:18 AM PDT

photo: PayPal

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 »

Meet OneAPI, the technology that could make carriers relevant in mobile apps

By Kevin Fitchard

Feb. 26, 2013 - 9:49 AM PDT Feb. 26, 2013 - 9:49 AM PDT

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 mobile payment service will go live in Europe with a funky new card reader

By Kevin Fitchard

Feb. 21, 2013 - 9:22 PM PDT Feb. 21, 2013 - 9:22 PM PDT

photo: PayPal

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 »

SumUp adds American Express to its mobile point-of-sale terminal roster

By David Meyer

Feb. 21, 2013 - 2:14 AM PDT Feb. 21, 2013 - 2:14 AM PDT

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 »

Isis: Salt Lake City mobile wallet users average 5 transactions a week

By Kevin Fitchard

Feb. 5, 2013 - 1:20 PM PDT Feb. 5, 2013 - 1:20 PM PDT

photo: Isis

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 gets chummy with the carriers, selling its card reader at Verizon stores

By Kevin Fitchard

Jan. 31, 2013 - 11:49 AM PDT Jan. 31, 2013 - 11:49 AM PDT

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 »

Survey: Despite initial missteps, mobile payments will boom in 2013

By Kevin Fitchard

Jan. 2, 2013 - 4:35 PM PDT Jan. 2, 2013 - 4:35 PM PDT

photo: GigaOM

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 »

VeriFone gives up competing head-on with Square

By Ryan Kim

Dec. 14, 2012 - 6:03 AM PDT Dec. 14, 2012 - 6:03 AM PDT

photo: VeriFone

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 »

Starbucks mobile vets get $10M for Cardfree mobile payments tool

By Ryan Kim

Dec. 10, 2012 - 7:55 AM PDT Dec. 10, 2012 - 7:55 AM PDT

photo: Cardfree

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 Wallet offers gift cards with Passbook integration

By Ryan Kim

Dec. 9, 2012 - 7:45 AM PDT Dec. 9, 2012 - 7:45 AM PDT

photo: Square

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 »

How T-Mobile’s smartphone pricing could change the U.S. wireless industry

By Kevin Fitchard

Dec. 7, 2012 - 12:53 PM PDT Dec. 7, 2012 - 12:53 PM PDT

photo: Shutterstock / Robert Kyllo

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 »

LevelUp looks for success as the “Android of mobile payments”

By Ryan Kim

Dec. 5, 2012 - 6:00 AM PDT Dec. 5, 2012 - 6:00 AM PDT

photo: LevelUp

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: first mobile payment system to power an entire sports arena

By Ryan Kim

Nov. 14, 2012 - 6:55 AM PDT Nov. 14, 2012 - 6:55 AM PDT

photo: LevelUp

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: We’re going to be the “remote control for commerce”

By Ryan Kim

Nov. 13, 2012 - 3:13 PM PDT Nov. 13, 2012 - 3:13 PM PDT

photo: Square

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 the latest to challenge Square

By Ryan Kim

Nov. 13, 2012 - 5:05 AM PDT Nov. 13, 2012 - 5:05 AM PDT

photo: Bank of America

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 lets restaurant owners get personal with customers

By Ryan Kim

Nov. 13, 2012 - 5:00 AM PDT Nov. 13, 2012 - 5:00 AM PDT

photo: Tabbedout

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 »

Mobile payments and a latte: Our test of Square Wallet at Starbucks

By Ryan Kim

Nov. 7, 2012 - 9:01 PM PDT Nov. 7, 2012 - 9:01 PM PDT

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 »

Is Google looking beyond NFC? Reportedly prepping plastic Wallet cards

By Ryan Kim

Nov. 1, 2012 - 4:01 PM PDT Nov. 1, 2012 - 4:01 PM PDT

photo: Android Police

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 »

iZettle takes on Payleven in Germany with Deutsche Telekom deal

By David Meyer

Oct. 30, 2012 - 1:07 AM PDT Oct. 30, 2012 - 1:07 AM PDT

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 in action: It’s pretty simple but no replacement wallet

By Stacey Higginbotham

Oct. 27, 2012 - 2:00 PM PDT Oct. 27, 2012 - 2:00 PM PDT

photo: Isis

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 »

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