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Merchants using Leaf, a tablet-based point-of-sale system that its owner Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is winding down, will continue to be supported, but there will be no further sales of the system, Leaf president Sarah McCrary tells Digital Transactions News. The expense and complication of supporting hardware to accept chip …
Read More »Samsung Buys LoopPay, a Key Building Block for a Samsung M-Payments Service
LoopPay Inc., the mobile payments company that relies on magnetic fields to connect devices to point-of-sale terminals, has a new owner: Samsung Electronics America Inc. The deal, announced in an email to LoopPay users, all but confirms that smart-phone maker Samsung has plans to launch what has been a much-rumored …
Read More »Merchants Worldwide Are Installing More Contactless Terminals—And Turning on NFC
With technologies like Apple Pay and host card emulation reviving prospects for mobile payments using near-field communication, merchants are starting to install more NFC devices at the point of sale. And, more important, they’re starting to turn on the NFC capability. That’s according to a report issued Tuesday by Berg …
Read More »COMMENTARY: EMV, End of E-Commerce, IPOs Will Reshape Payments This Year
In the far future, when someone sits down and writes the definitive history of payments (riveting), 2014 is going to be a big year. Bitcoin reached historic highs but then went sideways. We had the introduction of Apple Pay, which was a major step forward for mobile wallets. The sheer …
Read More »With Its Dinerware and pcAmerica Deals, Heartland Lays out a New Direction for Leaf
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. has acquired point-of-sale system developers Dinerware Inc. and pcAmerica, both makers of restaurant point-of-sale systems, Heartland announced Friday. Terms were not disclosed. The acquisitions spurred Princeton, N.J.-based Heartland to create a dedicated business unit call Heartland Commerce, which includes Dinerware, pcAmercia, Xpient, Leaf, and Liquor POS. …
Read More »Once They Use It, Consumers Favor NFC Over QR Codes, NFC Forum Survey Says
More consumers are satisfied using near-field communications (NFC) technology with their smart phones than express the same satisfaction using Quick Response codes, finds a survey by Strategy Analytics Inc., a Boston-based consulting firm. In the survey, commissioned by NFC advocate group NFC Forum, 76% of consumers said they were satisfied …
Read More »AmEx Could Take an $82 Billion Charge-Volume Hit With Loss of U.S. Costco Card
American Express Co. on Thursday disclosed that it will not renew its merchant-acceptance and cobranded credit card agreements with Costco Wholesale Corp. The card accounted for about $82 billion of AmEx’s worldwide charge volume last year. The possible loss of the warehouse club’s 16-year AmEx card program had been rumored …
Read More »When mPOS Goes Awry, Whom Do You Call? Payments Veteran Kahn Hopes It’s Boomtown
Mobile point-of-sale systems have come a long way in a short time, but in one respect they may have grown up too fast. They may have outstripped the ability of merchants and merchant-service providers to provide the kind of constant and consistent support that’s necessary to keep the tablets humming. …
Read More »COMMENTARY: Ignore the Naysayers! Here’s Why Apple Pay Will Be a Winner
Here’s a resolution that the payments industry should consider: Stop doubting market capabilities and start anticipating currents within the technological wave. With the unveiling of Apple Pay, naysayers are already coming out in full force. However, I’ve spent considerable time in the card-not-present environment, giving me a unique perspective on …
Read More »First Data Reports First Profit in 29 Quarters Since Going Private
Leading payment processor First Data Corp. late Tuesday reported its first quarterly profit since being taken private in a $29 billion leveraged buyout by investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in 2007. Net income wasn’t big, $11.8 million, but it beat the $123.1 million loss Atlanta-based First Data reported …
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