Tuesday , February 24, 2026

Competitive Strategies

COMMENTARY: Why Software is Eating Payments (Part 2)

As the payment-facilitator model matures, hundreds of thousands of fintech and software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies worldwide are realizing they can provide a better customer experience and increase revenues and valuation by becoming a payment facilitator (PF). We’re seeing companies spanning every imaginable software vertical take over their payments business.  Companies like …

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Fiserv Debuts Contactless POS Tech and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 9/6/19

Fiserv Inc. said its First Data unit, together with Visa Inc. and Samsung Electronics, is demonstrating a new software-based point-of-sale technology that allows an everyday mobile device to accept contactless payments from contactless cards or phones or wearables equipped with near-field communication. A pilot of the technology is set for Poland …

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COMMENTARY: Why Software is Eating Payments (Part 1)

In 2011, Marc Andreessen wrote his now-famous article, Software is Eating the World, which predicted that software companies would “take over large swaths of the economy.” Due to the wide adoption of broadband, mobile, and cloud-computing technology, Andreessen pointed out that the ingredients were in place for a huge boom …

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Stripe Gets Into Merchant Cash Advances With Stripe Capital

The big online merchant processor Stripe Inc. on Thursday introduced Stripe Capital for its U.S. merchants, thus joining competitors such as Square Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. in providing financing for its merchants. “Stripe Capital makes it easy for Internet businesses to get the funds they need, when they need …

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Digital River’s WordPress Plugin and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 9/5/19

Digital River Inc. said it made an e-commerce plugin for WordPress users available. Among its features, the plugin enables payment processing, PCI compliance, and fraud screening.Puerto Rico-based payment processor Evertec Inc. said it will donate $100,000 for disaster relief in the Bahamas, which have been racked by Hurricane Dorian.Compulocks Brands Inc. released a …

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U.S. Merchants Enabled 600,000 New Locations for Chip Card Acceptance in 2019’s First Half

U.S. merchants added 600,000 locations for EMV chip card acceptance in 2019’s first six months, and Visa issuers cranked out an additional 10 million EMV payment cards, according to new figures from Visa Inc. In its latest update on the U.S. conversion from magnetic-stripe payment cards to the EMV chip …

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Southwest Airlines Will Add Apple Pay As a Payment Option

Southwest Airlines will join the roster of merchants that accept Apple Pay, according to an announcement Wednesday from CellPoint Digital and UATP. UATP, the airline-owned payment network, and CellPoint Digital, a travel industry payments specialist, said Dallas-based Southwest will make Apple Pay available across all channels to buy tickets and …

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Novopayment’s Instant-Payment Service and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 9/4/19

Payments provider NovoPayment said it is introducing instant-payment service Visa Direct for a range of payments, including person-to-person transfers and mass payouts. The move allows issuers, acquirers, and merchants to bring the services to market faster via application programming interfaces, the company said.EVO Payments Inc. said Aldelo, a point-of-sale software developer, selected …

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Small Shops Prove a Refuge for Last-Minute Buyers

Small merchants are often seen as threatened by e-commerce giants like Amazon.com Inc. that can deliver products to consumers in some cases hours after the order is placed. But it turns out local businesses across the country still do big business on the eve of major occasions like Christmas and …

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The U.S. ATM at Age 50 Puts the Spotlight on the Future Role of Cash

The ATM made its U.S. debut 50 years ago, and a half-century later the future of cash and cash-dependent industries like ATMs is the subject of intense debate in industry forums and at city halls and state capitols. Chemical Bank, now part of JPMorgan Chase & Co., installed the first …

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Digital Transactions