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MOBILE PAYMENTSVenmo is discontinuing web support for payments and more; TechCrunch
PayPal-owned, peer-to-peer payments app Venmo is ending web support for its service, the company announced in an email to users. The changes, which are beginning to roll out now, will see the Venmo .com website phasing out support for making payments and charging users. In time, users will see even less functionality on the website, the company says. (Read More) Caviar drivers can now get paid instantly through Square’s Cash App; The Verge It’s standard practice to receive your paycheck every couple of weeks. But now Caviar, the food delivery service from Square, is launching an option for delivery drivers that’ll make the process of getting paid instant. (Read More) Maybank Tie-up Puts GrabPay Ahead in Cashless Race; finews.asia A recent tie-up with Maybank boosts ride-hailing giant Grab's ambitious plans to expand its mobile wallet across unbanked regions in Southeast Asia. (Read More) PayPal CFO sees opportunity in consumers who have mobile devices, but not bank accounts; CNBC
PayPal is doubling down on the idea of helping the "unbanked" — people who don't use typical financial services — by chasing one key group, CFO John Rainey told CNBC on Wednesday. (Read More) Walmart just abandoned cashierless checkout, and it reveals a huge challenge in its battle with Amazon; Business Insider Walmart just killed an app that let shoppers scan and pay for items with their smartphones so they could skip waiting in line at checkout registers, the company confirmed to Business Insider on Tuesday. (Read More) Paytm Launches My Payments, Aims To Process $8.9 Bn Bank Transfers by Year-end; Inc42 Homegrown digital payments giant Paytm has introduced My Payments feature on its app to enable Paytm users to schedule and make recurring, high-value payments and other monthly remittances without any hassle. (Read More) Tunisia operators make mobile money interoperable; Mobile World Live
Tunisia became the latest country to introduce interoperability between rival mobile money services, with the functionality set to be expanded to traditional financial institutions. (Read More) Samsung Canada teams up with RBC to expand Samsung Pay availability to Canadians; Press Release Samsung Electronics Canada Inc. announced today that Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) personal payment cards are now supported by Samsung Pay, the widely accepted mobile payment system that works almost anywhere you can swipe or tap a card.1 This latest announcement follows the expanded Canadian availability of Samsung Pay, with RBC joining existing Samsung Pay partners including CIBC, American Express Canada, ATB Financial, Interac Debit, Mastercard, Scotiabank and Visa Canada. (Read More) The reach of West Africa’s mobile money sector is 13 times wider than local banks; Quartz As the West Africa mobile economy report by GSMA shows, mobile adoption in West Africa has nearly doubled from 28% at the turn of the decade to 47% last year. Indeed, by the end of 2017, there were 176 million unique subscribers across the region’s 15-member states. Just as importantly, by the end of last year, the number of mobile internet subscribers has doubled over the last four years to reach 78 million—nearly half of the total number of mobile subscribers. (Read More) Google Pay on Wear OS officially spreads to three new countries; Android Police
When you're itching to try out a new feature on your favorite mobile device, there's little that sucks more than facing a geographical restriction; while your friends abroad are playing with the latest and greatest tech, you're stuck twiddling your thumbs and waiting until the powers that be decide to let you in on the action. Earlier today we noted that one of these restrictions appeared to be lessening, as some Huawei Watch 2 users who were shut out when an update disabled Google Pay (then Android Pay) outside the US and the UK started getting their access back—that was a clue, but not the whole story. Now we've got the complete picture on who's currently able to make Google Pay payments with their smartwatches, as Google confirms official support in Canada, Spain, and Australia. (Read More) Payfone Launches Platform to Help Retailers Enable Faster, Easier and More Secure Customer Experiences; Press Release "Instant Experiences for Retail" leverages Payfone's existing digital identity authentication technology to equip retailers with the speed, security and enhanced user experiences necessary to gain an advantage in today's competitive landscape. (Read More) PIN-on-Glass Technology Will Be Deployed In an Ingenico Test With MyPINPad; Digital Transactions Point-of-sale terminal maker Ingenico Group will test the PIN-on-glass specification in conjunction with MyPINPad and its software-based PIN-pad technology, MyPINPad announced Thursday. (Read More) Zimbabwe is pushing for mobile money interoperability as its cash problems linger; Quartz Media
Zimbabwe could become one of Africa’s early adopters of full interoperability in the mobile money sector if the government is to have its way. (Read More) Mobile wallet is gradually displacing cash in India, says GlobalData; Press Release The mobile wallet market in India is poised for significant growth as Indian consumers are increasingly turning away from cash and card, says leading data and analytics company GlobalData. According to the 2017 Consumer Payments Insight Survey by the company, India is one of the top markets globally in terms of mobile wallet adoption with 55.4% survey respondents indicating that they have a mobile wallet and use it. India is followed by China and Denmark. (Read More) Docomo Digital partners with Safaricom to launch Google Play purchases via M-Pesa; Mobile Payments Today Docomo Digital has partnered with Safaricom to give customers the option to pay for content on the Google Play Store using M-Pesa, according to a press release. (Read More) A third UK survey and a third set of fascinating insights into the progress of mobile payments, and the nature of the obstacles that stand in their way. Press Release
While mobile payments as a category are clearly going mainstream – no longer the preserve of tech-savvy early adopters and millennials – the proliferation of payments options and the insurgency of global technology companies into the world of payments means that the precise shape of our payments future, and the likely winners and losers is far harder to see. (Read More) Taiwan outlines measures to promote mobile payment usage; Focus Taiwan Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) Premier Lai Ching-te on Tuesday urged government agencies to earmark spending to subsidize transaction fees in a way that makes the use of mobile payments for in-store purchases more attractive to consumers. (Read More) Apple & Google to Bring Social Payments to the Masses, Driving Mobile P2P Users to Reach 2.5bn This Year; Press Release A new study from Juniper Research has found that the global number of registered mobile domestic money transfer users is expected to reach 2.5 billion this year, up from an estimated 1.7 billion in 2016. (Read More) Gemalto connects to both Mastercard and Visa tokenisation services; Finextra
Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, announces that its Trusted Service Hub (TSH) can now offer a single gateway enabling issuers to connect to the Mastercard and Visa tokenization services, simplifying the way financial institutions can launch mobile payment services. (Read More) Over 2,500 Hong Kong taxi drivers sign up to cashless WeChat Pay and Alipay; South China Morning Post With Hong Kong cashless payment operator Octopus still struggling to woo the city’s 40,000 taxi drivers, two mainland e-payment players, Alipay and WeChat Pay HK, are already leading the race with aggressive marketing to vie for a slice of the taxi pie. (Read More) Discover Mobile App Users Now Can Log In with a Glance on Apple’s iPhone X; Press Release Discover announced today that cardmembers and Discover Bank customers who own an iPhone X can take advantage of Face ID to sign in to the Discover Mobile app. The feature offers app users an intuitive and secure mobile log-in experience that requires no more than glancing at the device. (Read More) Sellers can now invoice buyers through PayPal’s new chat extension for Messenger; TechCrunch
PayPal and Facebook are expanding their integrations today with the launch of an extension for Messenger that allows PayPal sellers to invoice buyers directly through private messaging. The feature is ideal for use with Facebook’s numerous Buy and Sell groups as well as Facebook Marketplace, in addition to being an easy way to send PayPal invoices in general. (Read More) ICICI Bank launches Eazypay mobile app; GADGETS NOW The ICICI Bank has launched Easypay - a mobile application to enable merchants, retailers and professionals to accept instant cashless payments on mobile phones from customers. (Read More) Why Isn’t Chase Pay Taking Off? paymentweek It wasn’t so long ago that JP Morgan Chase joined the mobile payments hunt with its Chase Pay system. Recent reports, however, suggest that the new offering is going over like a lead balloon, and isn’t drawing much in the way of a user base. Analysis of the overall condition suggests one root cause that may be to blame: customers just aren’t that interested in Chase Pay. (Read More) Wirecard adds major 'Pays' support to US prepaid card business; Mobile Paymentstoday
Wirecard has announced the launch of mobile wallet integration with Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay in the U.S., according to a press release. (Read More) Google reports 7.5m users of its Tez audio QR mobile payments app; NFC World Edited Transcript of GOOGL earnings conference call or presentation 26-Oct-17 8:30pm GMT. (Read More) Security Concerns and Problems at the Register Continue to Depress Mobile Pay Usage and Net Promoter Scores, says Auriemma Consulting Group; Press Release Mobile pay usage among eligible consumers is down 5% compared to this time last year (25% vs. 30%). And the decline in adoption is expected to continue into Q4 – a period that has seen seasonal dips in Mobile Pay usage the past two years, according to Auriemma Consulting Group's Mobile Pay Tracker. (Read More) PayToday introduces mobile fuel payments; New Era
Windhoek-Pioneering Namibian-based payment startup PayToday recently introduced business payments, including fuel stations, to its peer-to-peer payment app. PayToday had a soft launch in March, but the initial version of the app only facilitated informal person-to-person payments. At the beginning of September, PayToday launched its business section and the response from the public has been overwhelming. (Read More) WeChat confirms that it makes all private user data available to the Chinese government; Money Control WeChat has confirmed what has been rumoured all along i.e. it gives all user information to the Chinese government. The popular app in a privacy statement is now informing the users that virtually all the private user information will be disclosed to the authorities. (Read More) Is Google's Tez too late to the digital payments game in India? CIO Google has become the latest entrant in the digital payment space in India. On Monday, the company announced Tez, a mobile app for payments in India. Google says in less than 24 hours of launch - it has over 500k users and the GMV was close to Rs 2 crores.However, with the ever-growing list of fintech companies such as Paytm, PayU and MobiKwik etc, is the internet giant late to the party? Will it be a game changer in India? (Read More) Ezetap, racing against bigger rivals like Paytm, just raised $16 million in fresh funding; TechCrunch
There are more than 1 billion cellphone users in India. The country also abruptly went cashless last November, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that millions of high-denomination currency notes would no longer be legal tender. (Read More) Mobile Wallets Facing Competition From The Website / Card Combination; PaymentWeek While there was a lot made out of mobile payment systems in India following the recent demonetization effort that saw around 80 percent of the country’s currency rendered worthless, it turns out that mobile wasn’t the first stop for many users. Reports note that mobile wallets did see some hefty gains, but the big winner turned out to be the combination of cards and websites. (Read More) M-Pesa founder shares lessons learned from ten years of mobile money; NFC World M-Pesa pioneer Michael Joseph, founding CEO of Safaricom and now director of mobile money at Vodafone Group, explains how the service works and the lessons learned from building and deploying one of the world’s most successful mobile money services in an in-depth Q&A that is now available to download free of charge from the NFC World Knowledge Centre. (Read More) PayPal reports a third of transactions now mobile; Mobile World
Mobile now accounts for 34 per cent of all transactions made on PayPal, the company revealed in its Q2 results. (Read More) Apple Pay’s first large-scale promotion in China intensifies its competition with Alipay and WeChat Pay; Developing Telecoms The size of Apple Pay's share in the mobile payments market in China will depend on how well Apple Pay fits the needs of the local market and how substantial an investment Apple and its partners are prepared to make. (Read More) Convenience store Cheers opens first unmanned, cashless outlet; Singapore The Cheers outlet at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) looks like its normal store - with shelves and fridges stocked with food and drinks - except there is no cashier or assistant in sight. The convenience store, fully managed by NYP students, is fitted with at least 10 closed-circuit cameras. Customers use a QR code found on the free "Shop It Yourself" mobile app to gain entry to the store. The doors lock automatically after entry. (Read More) TransferWise links with Apple Pay globally; REUTERS Financial technology startup TransferWise will allow users around the world to send money internationally through its service using Apple Pay, in a bid to make transfers easier and more secure. (Read More) Monese, the mobile current account banking app, expands to Europe; TechCrunch
You wait all day for a multi-currency account and three come along at once. Give or take a month or so, that’s appears to be the case with news that Monese, the London fintech that offers a mobile banking app and current account, is adding support for Euro accounts. It follows Revolut and Transferwise‘s recently launched multi-currency offerings, albeit they are targeting a different segment of the banking market. (Read More) Mastercard Bringing Mobile P2P Payments to Merchants; MobileIDWorld Mastercard is exploring the idea of essentially enabling P2P mobile payments between customers and shop owners. It’s an effort aimed at addressing a longstanding issue for smaller merchants – the lack of resources to accept card payments. Citing data from Worldpay and Expert Market, Mastercard points out in a statement that one in ten small and medium-sized businesses don’t accept such payments, and that one in four consumers in the UK avoid businesses that don’t take cards. (Read More) Apple makes NFC tag reading available for beta testing; NFC World Members of the general public who sign up for the Apple Beta Software Program can now download a pre-release edition of iOS 11, the latest version of Apple’s operating system for iPhone and iPad which brings with it support for NFC tag reading. (Read More) Telegram now lets users buy things from chatbots in its messaging app; TechCrunch
Messaging app Telegram has dropped a major update today that sees its service gain support for chatbot payments. It has also added short video messages and new design options for its Instant View reading mode. (Read More) Google announces Payment API, Assistant payments, targeted Android Pay loyalty offers & more; Press Release As part of its Google I/O announcements this week, Google announced its latest new payments features today, including new targeted offers coming to Android Pay, a new Google API that will enable fast checkouts in apps and online, payments with Google Assistant, and more. (Read More) Alipay, WeChat Pay lead China finance app explosion; Mobile World Live Finance app downloads in China grew by 230 per cent during 2016, according to a new report from analytics company App Annie. Unsurprisingly, m-commerce giants Alipay and WeChat Pay drove growth in the country. App Annie said the two were now on par with each other in terms of engagement, and way ahead of the nearest app from a traditional finance provider. (Read More) Orange to launch mobile-only bank with NFC payments and AI; NFC World
Mobile network operator Orange is to launch a mobile-only bank in France in July this year that will offer customers NFC mobile payments, P2P mobile transfers using SMS and an artificial intelligence-based virtual assistant that will eventually be able to complete tasks including making transfers and putting funds in savings. (Read More) Six Dutch banks to take Belgium’s Payconiq to the Netherlands; NFC World Six Dutch banks including ABN Amro, ASN Bank, ING, Rabobank, Regiobank and SNS have announced their intention to launch Payconiq in the Netherlands this summer. Payconiq is a common mobile payment platform that lets customers make P2P payments as well as pay in-store and online and has been successfully piloted and launched in Belgium with support from ING, KBC and Belfius banks. (Read More) PayPal teams up with Android Pay for mobile payments; TechCrunch PayPal is joining forces with Google’s Android Pay mobile payments platform, the companies announced this morning – an effort aimed at allowing PayPal to expand its footprint both within mobile applications as well as at brick-and-mortar retailers. The partnership will see PayPal becoming available as a payment method in the Android Pay service, which will allow U.S. users to pay for things like Uber as well as at retailers like Walgreens, and restaurants like Dunkin’ Donuts and Subway. (Read More) Samsung Pay goes live across India with support for Paytm and UPI money transfers; NFC World
Samsung Pay has launched in India with support from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Cards and Standard Chartered Bank, with Citibank India support expected “shortly”. The service has also integrated India’s leading mobile wallet Paytm and comes with support for peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfers through the Indian government’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform. (Read More) Swedish Startup Truecaller Gets Into Mobile Payments in India; Bloomberg Swedish startup Truecaller has become the newest entrant in India’s busy digital payments space, via a tie-up with ICICI Bank Ltd. to offer a local mobile-payments service. (Read More) Westpac launches payments keyboard for chat apps; NFC World Customers of Australian bank Westpac will soon be able to use an innovative replacement for the default keyboard found in social messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to make P2P money transfers to friends, family and businesses as well as send cardless cash codes to recipients for ATM withdrawals. (Read More) Russian mobile network MTS launches first phase of Money Wallet payments, transfer and loyalty service; NFC World
Russian mobile network operator MTS has launched MTS Money Wallet, an online payments and money transfer service that incorporates loyalty points, offers and discounts, and is to be expanded to transport and in-store payments via NFC, SMS and USSD technologies later this year. (Read More) Walgreens integrates rewards program into Android Pay; Mobile Commerce Daily Walgreens is continuing to push forward in the mobile commerce space with the integration of its loyalty program with Android Pay, allowing users to seamlessly earn points and pay via mobile in stores. (Read More) Kenyan banks roll out PesaLink real-time direct P2P mobile payments; NFC World Kenya’s new digital payments platform PesaLink, that will enable consumers to make real-time mobile person-to-person (P2P) payments from US$0.10 up to US$9,650 at any time without having to go through intermediaries, is “expected to cut the cost of transactions and transform the way consumers interact with their banks”, the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) says. (Read More) IBM links with Indiegogo, Visa, Bosch and more in $3B IoT push; TechCrunch IBM is today taking the wraps off its new Internet of Things headquarters in Munich — a $200 million project at over one year in the making. And to underscore its IoT push, IBM is announcing a series of related deals and partnerships with companies including Indiegogo, Visa, Bosch and French railway SNCF, among others. (Read More) PayPal’s mobile payments volume sees 55% increase in 2016; NFC World
Mobile payments accounted for a third of PayPal’s overall payment volume during the fourth quarter of 2016, the company’s CEO Dan Schulman has revealed, with the total volume of mobile payments increasing by 55% over the course of last year. (Read More) 27% of all Starbucks transactions last quarter came from mobile pay; Mobile Commerce Daily Starbucks saw a sizable jump in mobile transactions in the first quarter of this financial year, with mobile orders jumping from three percent to seven percent of all transactions. (Read More) Paytm is paying a price for its sudden stardom; QUARTZ On Nov. 08, Vijay Shekar Sharma found himself intensely in demand. The founder and CEO of Paytm, India’s largest mobile payments startup, was attending an industry event in Mumbai when prime minister Narendra Modi announced the move to demonetise Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes. As soon as Sharma’s session was over, his phone began ringing non-stop: almost every newsroom in the country wanted to know what the 38-year-old entrepreneur thought of the decision, which would suck out 86% of India’s cash in circulation. (Read More) Hungary’s national bank to launch instant payments through mobile phone numbers; NFC World
A proposal from Hungary’s central bank Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) for the launch of an instant payments service that will allow consumers to initiate a payment using only the mobile phone number of the recipient, with transactions completed “in a matter of seconds”, has been approved by the country’s Financial Stability Board. (Read More) New York City brings smartphone payments to metered parking; TechCrunch The system fulfills Mayor de Blasio’s promise to roll out a smarter metered parking system by year’s end — and with a full week or so to spare. The system goes live to select spots in midtown, between 14th and 59th street, with plans to roll it out to all of the city’s 85,000 Mini-Meter parking spots by the end of next summer. The Department of Transportation will identify participating spots with new signs and decals. (Read More) London fintech startup Curve brings mobile wallet and all-your-cards-in-one app to Android; TechCrunch The mobile wallet lets you sync your debit and credit cards into a single app and to the accompanying Curve card powered by MasterCard. You then simply select which card you want the Curve cards to act as a conduit for any payments you make offline or online, meaning you only need to carry a single physical card with you. (Read More) How Frequently Do Millennials Transact via Mobile? eMarketer
Millennials frequently use their mobile devices to pay for things, but concerns about identity fraud or security may be stopping more from transacting this way. August 2016 research found that though many millennial smartphone users in North America and the UK do transact via mobile—whether every day or a few times per week—there are others that only do so once a month or a few times per year. (Read More) European Millennials Hungry For (Good) Mobile Payment Technology; Perficient While more than half of the ~4,000 millennials from Germany, Italy, UK, and the Netherlands that took part in the study exhibit deep interest and a strong desire to leverage mobile devices for making payments, the lack of features and benefits today’s technology offers is preventing them from changing their habits. In addition, poor awareness and understanding of the technology currently available contributes to the slow adoption. (Read More) Android Pay launches in Poland; nfcworld Android Pay has begun rolling out across Poland, allowing consumers with compatible devices to make payments at more than 400,000 retail locations in the country that accept contactless payments. The service launches with support from Mastercard and Visa along with Alior Bank, Bank Zachodni WBK and T-Mobile Banking Services. (Read More) Android Pay partners with Visa and Mastercard to bring simple checkout to more places online; Google
Today, Google announces strategic partnerships with Visa and Mastercard to bring Android Pay to more places on the mobile web. (Read More) Mastercard and BMO make Fingerprint and ‘Selfie’ Payment Technology a Reality in North America; Press Release Mastercard announced the North American rollout of Identity Check Mobile™, a new payment technology application that uses biometrics, including fingerprint and facial recognition, to verify a cardholder’s identity and simplify online shopping. BMO Financial Group (BMO) will be the first bank in the U.S. and Canada to offer Identity Check Mobile to its corporate customers starting in the first half of 2017. (Read More) PayPal’s $100 billion mobile payment milestone makes it eBay divorce winner; diginomica Over a year after its divorce from eBay, PayPal is looking at a significant milestone – over $100 billion mobile payments processed in the coming year. To put that into context, the firm has done $200 billion in volume across the whole of the last ten years. (Read More) Mastercard jockeys for mobile payments domination with new API platform; Mobile Commerce Daily
In news announced today, Mastercard is introducing a proprietary API program that enables its partners to experiment with new technologies and interfaces, raising the innovation stakes for similar brands across the financial industry. (Read More) Android, iOS and Market Power – What Does Mobile Platform Competition Really Look Like? Disruptive Cometition Project The European Commission’s competition investigation into Google’s Android mobile operating system (OS) has unsurprisingly raised a lot of attention and commentary. It’s fair to say that so far most comments focused on the ‘abuse part’ of that investigation. (Read More) The coming revolution in Indian banking; Product Nation
Increasing penetration of smartphones, Aadhaar-linked bank accounts and a host of powerful open and programmable capabilities is set to create the ‘WhatsApp moment’ for Indian banking. (Read More) Two-thirds of smartphone users now paying by mobile; South China Morning Post Close to two-thirds of smartphone users in China now make regular payments on their devices, according to a new report on internet development in the country. (Read More) CVS Pharmacy launches its own mobile payments and loyalty solution, CVS Pay; TECHLEAR CVS Health today is launching its own mobile payments solution that will allow customers to pay for products, pick up prescriptions, earn ExtraCare loyalty rewards, as well as pay – just by scanning the barcode in the CVS mobile app. The idea, the company explains, is to eliminate the number of steps it takes today to complete a checkout, which today is a very manual process. (Read More) Absa launches Masterpass App for safe, convenient digital payments; Press Release
Payments via the Absa Masterpass App currently gives people the power to make online purchases using the digital wallet on their smartphones, without needing to carry their bank cards with them. Absa customers will also soon be able to do in-store shopping using Absa Masterpass, with a variety of merchants presently being signed up. (Read More) Wallet War: Banks, Stores Slug It Out With Phone-Pay Apps; The Wall Street Journal More banks and merchants are developing mobile-payment products for use in stores, joining the likes of Apple Inc. that have dominated the nascent business. The result is a dizzying range of options for shoppers who must decide which method to use if they want to pay with their phones instead of using traditional plastic cards. (Read More) PBOC Probes China’s Tencent Over Mobile Payments; The Wall Street Journal China’s central bank is looking into a complaint against Tencent Holdings Ltd. that alleges the internet giant hasn’t abided by new security regulations required for mobile payments on its messaging platform. (Read More) Chase’s QuickPay takes on PayPal with real-time transfers; Mobile Commerce Daily
Chase is boosting the mobile capabilities of its peer-to-peer payment program to gain traction against PayPal and others with new features such as real-time transfers. (Read More) Apple takes on PayPal with Apple Pay on the web; TechCrunch At WWDC today in San Francisco, Apple finally announced that Apple Pay is coming to the web this fall. Mac users will be able to pay online in Safari using a “Pay with Apple Pay” button, and authenticate their purchase using Touch ID on their phone or watch. (Read More) Here is the future of Apple Pay; Computer World Apple’s Apple Pay plans reach far beyond what we know today. Apple will expand in multiple directions as it attempts to boost adoption of its service. Apple claims it is adding one million Apple Pay users per week, while Juniper Research says 148 million global consumers will uses contactless services like Apple Pay this year. (Read More) Android Pay wants to streamline Web payments and customer signups; ars technica
Today at Alphabet's annual developer's conference, the company announced a host of new tools for developers working with Android Pay—including support for Android Instant Apps, a new feature called PaymentRequest, and improvements to the Save To Android Pay API. (Read More) MCX postpones rollout of Apple Pay rival CurrentC, lays off 30, will focus on bank deals; TechCrunch As merchants like Walmart move ahead on their own mobile payment strategies, a consortium that once counted Walmart — along with a number of other big retailers and brands — behind it, has taken a step back. Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) today announced it would postpone a nationwide rollout of CurrentC, a smartphone payment initiative originally conceived as a mobile wallet rival to smartphone-led services like Apple Pay and Android Pay. As a result, MCX said it would lay off 30 people as it shifted its focus to working with financial institutions. (Read More) Walmart Pay rolled out across 600 stores in Texas and Arkansas; ZDNet The app allows the retail giant to compete with other mobile payment services like Samsung Pay, but it also gives the chain an edge against brick-and-mortar competitors. (Read More) Starbucks rolls out a more personalized mobile app along with a revamped Rewards program; TechCrunch
Starbucks this morning announced the overall of its mobile application, now used by 17 million people, in an effort to create a more personalized experience for its customers. The changes rolled out alongside an overhaul of the company’s popular customer loyalty program, Starbucks Rewards, which is now doling out stars based on dollars spent in stores, rather than how often customers make purchases. (Read More) Starbucks: The Secrets of Success with M-payments; Open Mobile Media Why is the coffee giant seemingly the only one to get mobile payments right? Susan Kuchinskas examines why so many customers use the Starbucks app to get their caffeine fix, and what other companies may divine from the coffee company’s success. (Read More) Venmo’s secret sauce: PayPal CEO on the future of the fast-growing social payments app; GeekWire On its surface, Venmo is a mobile app used by thousands of users each day to transfer money. But aside from being a convenient way to pay one another, the PayPal-owned company is seeing explosive growth for a completely different reason. (Read More) Identity verification startup Jumio files for bankruptcy, will sell assets to early backer Eduardo Saverin; TechCrunch
Jumio, the Andreessen Horowitz-funded mobile and online credentials authentication business, whose technology can scan and read information from payment cards and IDs, says that its U.S. business has begun voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which will allow it to sell its assets. The company is selling its business to early backer and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. (Read More) Powa: The start-up that fell to earth; BBC News It was one of Britain's brightest tech start-ups, praised by David Cameron, and a rare British "unicorn" - a company valued at over $1bn (£694m) before floating on a stock market. (Read More) P2P payments: over 300,000 users for “Jiffy”; Press Release Jiffy, the service developed by SIA to send and receive money in real time via Smartphone, has surpassed 300,000 registered users. The average value of a single transaction is €44 and around 50% of the transfers are for sums under €25. (Read More) Mobile Payments Startup Payleven Raises Another $10M; TechCrunch
The days of Square clones popping up, everywhere you looked and capitalizing on Square’s conservative approach to global expansion, are long gone. But those startups are not. And today, one of them is announcing a Series D round. (Read More) Checkouts with Apple Pay; Macdrifter While splurging on a piece of rubber, I was pleasantly surprised by a new method of buying items through a web page. In addition to using the normal options of credit cards or Paypal, Cozy Industries also offers Apple Pay. (Read More) Is Apple Quietly Assembling an SMB Trojan Horse? STREETFIGHT Mobile payments continue to show promise for the long-elusive holy grail that is marketing attribution. However they’ve erstwhile followed the adoption rate I predicted almost two years ago: slowly. (Read More) InComm's drive to bring open-loop prepaid to mobile wallets; Mobile Payments Today
In June, Pew Charitable Trusts estimated that some 23 million adults use general purpose reloadable prepaid cards in the U.S. on a regular basis. InComm, one of the leading prepaid program providers worldwide, sees an opportunity in that number to entice more consumers — particularly the financially underserved and millennials — to use mobile payments at a time when more contactless terminals are present in U.S. storefronts thanks to the current EMV shift underway nationwide. (Read More) As More Pay by Smartphone, Banks Scramble to Keep Up; The New York Times Ryan Craine hates carrying cash and finds writing checks to be a headache. He doesn’t do much of either anymore — he mostly uses his smartphone to pay for things. (Read More) How Apple’s Trojan horse will eat the credit card industry; The Washington Post
Apple Pay was launched last year, with lots of fanfare and support by the credit card industry. Partnering with the banks that issue credit cards overcame the resistance that early entrants in mobile payments had faced. It also solved critical technology and infrastructure problems and offered the credit-card industry a new avenue for growth. (Read More) Apple, Samsung to Enter China Payments Market With UnionPay; BloombergBusiness Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. reached separate agreements with China UnionPay Co. to introduce their competing mobile payments systems in the country next year. (Read More) China’s behemoth UnionPay lets smartphone users ring up purchases in two seconds flat; South China Morning Post Imagine standing in a store with no cash or bank cards or even a telecoms signal and just waving a smartphone above a point of sale unit. Seconds later, the payment is done. That is what China UnionPay is promoting. (Read More) How Venmo Won In One Of The Most Crowded Spaces In Tech; TechCrunch
Seamless peer-to-peer mobile payments have been considered inevitable for quite a while. And for good reason: One experience figuring out the bill at a group dinner party or splitting the cost of a wedding gift and you understand the headache that can be caused by friends dealing with money. Who wants to deal with cash or checks when you can send money in a tap? (Read More) UnionPay International Launches mPOS Service in Pakistan; Press Release On October 29, UnionPay International and Monet, the largest mPOS (Mobile POS) service provider in Pakistan, jointly announced to launch mPOS acquiring service in Pakistan. Such innovative products will enable the acceptance of UnionPay cards rapidly at local micro-merchants and small businesses, while offering cardholders more convenient and secure purchasing experience. With the launch of this product, Pakistan becomes the first overseas market where UnionPay International enables mPos acceptance. (Read More) Samsung Touts Mobile Payment Success; Wall Street Journal
Just in time for its U.S. launch next week, Samsung Electronics Co. said that its new mobile payment service has processed more than $30 million worth of transactions in its first month in South Korea, a level of market adoption that the company said was “beyond our expectations.” (Read More) Starbucks Mobile Order & Pay Now Available to Customers Nationwide; Press Release Starbucks Coffee Company announced the nationwide availability of Mobile Order & Pay on iOS and Android devices, a new feature of the popular Starbucks® mobile app that allows customers to place and pay for their order in advance of their visit and pick it up at a participating Starbucks® location. (Read More) U.S. Bank and Elavon Bring More Mobile Payment Choices to Customers with Samsung Pay; Press Release U.S. Bank and Elavon, the global acquiring subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), today announced the availability of Samsung Pay to offer more payment choices and convenience to their customers. (Read More) Ingenico Said to Join Bidding for Payments Firm Worldpay; Bloomberg
Ingenico Group, a French payments-processing company, has joined the race to buy Worldpay Ltd. ahead of the U.K. rival’s planned initial public offering, according to a person familiar with the matter. (Read More) Consumers Believe Nontraditional Providers Will Drive Financial Industry Innovation, Says Research from Raddon Financial Group; Press Release While nearly half of all U.S. consumers believe nontraditional providers will drive innovation in the financial services industry, only 38 percent said they would consider a nontraditional provider for future financial services needs, according to a survey from Raddon Financial Group, a leading provider of financial industry research and trends data. However, likelihood to use a nontraditional provider such as PayPal, Amazon, Apple or Google broke down sharply along generational lines, with younger consumers much more likely to consider doing so. (Read More) Wirecard Said to Join Worldpay Contest With $9.4 Billion Bid; Bloomberg Business German payments processor Wirecard AG has joined the bidding for U.K. rival Worldpay Ltd., according to people with knowledge of the matter.Wirecard is competing against private-equity bidders, including a joint proposal from Blackstone Group and Hellman & Friedman, as Worldpay also prepares for a possible initial public offering, the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private. (Read More) Google Unveils “Purchases On Google,” Which Are Basically Buy Buttons In Mobile Ads; TechCrunch
Google today announced a new feature called Purchases on Google, which will make it easier for consumers to buy products directly from mobile search ads. The Wall Street Journal first reported that this was in the works back in May, with Google confirming the broad strokes of the news later that month. (Read More) A new east Africa campaign; The Economist SAFARICOM is among the most innovative firms in the telecoms industry worldwide, and east Africa’s biggest company. Incumbency has now put the Kenya-based mobile-phone operator in the crosshairs of insurgent rivals. The company is at the centre of a corporate battle that is being watched intently by the continent’s business and government elites. (Read More) Mozido Expands to Africa with Zimbabwe Mobile Financial Services Offering; Press Release Mozido, a global provider of trusted digital commerce and payment solutions, has expanded into Africa with its NettCash mobile financial services offering. By acquiring a majority of NettCash, a Zimbabwe mobile wallet company, Mozido has further established its foothold in Africa. The NettCash pre-paid electricity solution is being extended by integrating Mozido’s Mobile Transaction Platform services, including mobile bill pay, stored value account, and person-to-person payment services, to launch Zimbabwe’s first mobile wallet that includes prepaid utility services. (Read More) Mobile Phone Boosts Financial Inclusion; paymentsafrika
The agent banking and mobile phone transaction are picking up while pushing up as demonstrated by increase the volume and value of transactions. (Read More) Apple, Google bet on walletless future, but are shoppers ready to pay with phone? Mercury News Some pay for deli sandwiches with a flick of their Internet-enabled wristwatches. Osama Bedier waves his phone. (Read More) One out of four accounts ‘dormant’ as mobile money takes over banking; The East African
Nearly one out of every four bank accounts in East Africa remains inactive as consumers trade traditional banking for the convenience of mobile money services, the findings of two separate studies show. (Read More) NFC Mobile Payments: An Industry Snapshot; mobey forum After years of hype and uncertainty, NFC is finally here. Countries in which plastic card use is the norm have witnessed a recent explosion in the mobile payments ecosystem. The emergence of Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and HCE all indicate that, this time, it’s here to stay. (Read More) MTN Mobile Money and Vodafone M-Pesa agree to interconnect Mobile Money Services; Press Release
Customers of MTN Mobile Money and M-Pesa in East Africa will be able to transfer money to each other following an agreement between MTN Group and Vodafone Group to interconnect their mobile money services. (Read More) The Year Of Mobile Payments; Techcrunch Ask most people what the state of mobile payments is today, and they’ll tell you it’s just kicking off. With Facebook announcing the option to send money to friends via Messenger and the release of Apple Pay last year, 2015 has excitedly been dubbed “The Year of Mobile Payments.” Yet what most people don’t realise is that these services are already lagging 10 years behind. (Read More) PayPal explains why it’s buying mobile wallet provider Paydiant; NFC World
“What Paydiant has is a clarity of focus on mobile and how large merchants need to utilise mobile to connect with their customers — they’re a small company doing that very successfully with some really cool brands,” Anuj Nayar, senior director of global initiatives at PayPal, has told NFC World as the payment giant prepares to complete its acquisition of the payments platform provider for a reported US$280m. (Read More) GlobeOne partners with InvestaBank and Bankaool to bring new mobile banking network to Mexico; Press Release GlobeOne, a new financial technology company, today announced a partnership with InvestaBank and Bankaool that will bring GlobeOne’s mobile banking solution to Mexico later this year. Through this new partnership, GlobeOne will provide a mobile interface for a suite of financial services offered by InvestaBank and Bankaool in Mexico, bringing bank services to those who are currently underserved by existing financial services. (Read More) American Express’ Plenti rewrites loyalty landscape as mobile’s role explodes; Mobile Commerce Today American Express’ new far-reaching coalition loyalty program featuring brands such as Macy’s and ExxonMobil is a prime example of how mobile is making loyalty bigger and better by making it easier for members to earn rewards from one merchant in real-time and then immediately apply them to a purchase from another. (Read More) Mobile wallets are more marketing channel than payments topic: Forrester
While mobile wallets currently offer significant value to brands, marketers must also look beyond those solutions and focus on mobilizing loyalty platforms to create branded moments and transform payment options into a viable marketing channel, according to a report from Forrester Research. (Read More) A Playbook for in-Store Mobile Transacting in South Africa; Payments Afrika “South African consumers are driving a mobile payment revolution enabled by a slew of innovative home grown technology companies. Local retailers, brands and agencies are leveraging the power of mobile payments in clever ways to unlock new revenue streams and boost customer retention.” So says Bevan Ducasse, CEO of wiGroup, following the release of the company’s white paper on in-store mobile transacting. (Read More) Visa Showcases Connected Commerce at Mobile World Congress 2015; Press Release FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 2015-- “Everywhere you want to be” is taking on new meaning for Visa as the global transition from plastic to digital payments accelerates, driven in large part by mobile connectivity. At Mobile World Congress next month (March 2-5, Hall 6, stand D40) in Barcelona, Spain, Visa will unveil its latest mobile payment services and demonstrate how a world connected by commerce – far beyond just phones and tablets – is transforming the way people shop, pay and get paid. (Read More) Amazon’s challenge to PayPal in mobile-enabled online payments gains steam; Mobile Commerce Daily
Amazon saw more than 25 percent of Login and Pay with Amazon payments come from mobile devices in 2014, underscoring the power of streamlined checkout processes on mobile as well as the online retailer’s growing role in driving mobile commerce across the Web. (Read More) Nigeria’s First Bank Partners Etisalat to Extend Mobile Money Services; Payments Africa Major Nigerian commercial bank First Bank has announced a partnership with telecoms company Etisalat to make Firstmonie mobile money services available on Etisalat’s Easywallet SIM application. (Read More) Apple Pay’s growth increases pressure on retailers to jump on board; Mobile Commerce Daily
Apple Pay continues to add more partners, including a number of new banks, which will drive perceived value for consumers and encourage more banks as well as retailers to jump on board. (Read More) Japan Lagging Behind in the Adoption of Mobile Payments Technology; paymentweek Despite being one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, Japan has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to digital payments and services. (Read More) Taking One Touch™ Mobile Payments International; Braintree Blog In September, we announced the general availability of One Touch™ mobile payments with PayPal in the U.S., the industry’s first and only single touch payment experience across Android and iOS. Today, in an effort to help people and businesses connect more seamlessly, reduce friction from buying on mobile and support innovation globally, we’re rolling out One Touch with PayPal in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK. We’re starting the rollout in these markets, while working quickly to bring One Touch to our tens of thousands of customers across the more than 40 countries we serve globally. (Read More) Four Months After Acquisition, Square Launches iOS App For Food Delivery Service Caviar: TechCrunch Over the summer, Square purchased food delivery startup Caviar. Today, it’s making ordering on the service even easier with the launch of a mobile app. (Read More) Apple Pay from the Front Lines; Gonzo Banker It’s been a good three weeks since the new iPhone 6 arrived in the mail. It was a bittersweet moment as I had regretfully given up my iPhone 4S, primarily out of the geeky obsession that it was rumored to be the last product in which Steve Jobs was able to oversee development from start to finish. (Read More) |
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