October, 2020

• 1 October

  Your Smart Phone Is Your Terminal

  

  Momentum is building fast for card acceptance on ordinary mobile phones. And now Apple could be the next player in this increasingly important game. The drive to turn mobile devices into point-of-sale terminals without requiring a plug-in card-acceptance device, such as a dongle, got a big shot in the arm …

July, 2020

• 1 July

  ‘We’re All Omnichannel Now’

  

  The pandemic accelerated developing trends at the point of sale. POS vendors that have mastered hardware, software, and processing could be best positioned to benefit. When the novel coronavirus struck in March, it drove consumers into their homes, leading to a surge in e-commerce spending. Brick-and-mortar merchants soon learned the …

June, 2020

• 1 June

  The ABCs of APIs

  

  This special code has made possible everything from mobile payments to open banking. Now, get ready for the next stage in the evolution of this remarkable technology. It seems like it was just yesterday that a group of technology experts from the major California banks were sitting around a table …

May, 2020

• 1 May

  Wellsprings of IoT Payments

  

  The Internet of Things has always had a gee-whiz factor, but unshowy sectors such as utilities, insurance, and purchases for business and household essentials are leading its payments growth. The Internet of Things seemed to be big even before Silicon Valley techies and their marketing-side allies started using the term …

April, 2020

• 1 April

  Transit Payments in Transition

  

  Public-transportation fare payments are morphing from closed-loop magnetic-stripe cards to contactless cards and mobile payments. Up next: One app to pay for all, including scooters, bikes, and shared rides. Tokens are long gone and magnetic stripes are going. Contactless is coming. Beyond that, one app for all? That, in a …

February, 2020

• 1 February

  Easing the Pain at the Table

  

  EMV is here, but widespread adoption of pay-at-the-table devices has yet to happen. Could that be changing? When the U.S. payment card industry converted to chip cards using EMV technology more than four years ago, hopes abounded like diners queuing up to eat that the ability to pay at the …

November, 2019

• 1 November

  Tap-And-Pay’s Express Train

  

  After years of looking to make fare payment easier, mass-transit agencies have found the answer in contactless cards. That’s giving consumers a compelling reason to use contactless on a broader scale. Mass adoption of a new technology requires giving consumers a compelling reason to use it on a daily basis. …

May, 2019

• 1 May

  Where EMV Spells Headache

  

  With almost 18 months to go, the petroleum industry is having a hard time with a crucial EMV deadline. Not many gas stations are expected to make it. Here’s why. It’s halftime in the runup to the October 2020 deadline set by Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. for gas stations …

April, 2019

• 1 April

  The Need for a Payments-Orchestration Panel

  

  Payment complexity, combined with a scarcity of engineering talent, makes a new functionality layer all the more urgent for merchants’ payment flows. “Orchestration” refers to software platforms and services that automate … business processes to help streamline and simplify operations management. By automating the configuration, management, and interoperability of disparate …

January, 2019

• 31 January

  Can ATMs Stay Relevant?

  

  As cash goes, so go ATMs. Cash so far has managed to ward off its many electronic enemies, but it’s playing defense in the payments version of The Hundred Years’ War. What does it all mean for ATM deployers and manufacturers? The leading payment card networks have targeted cash since …