Competitive Strategies

  Payment processors First Data Corp. and Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) will have key roles in securing transactions using tokenization technology for payments consumers make with Apple Inc.’s newly announced Apple Pay mobile-payments scheme. The Cupertino, Calif.-based computer giant made the announcement as part of its unveiling Tuesday of …

After weeks of fevered anticipation, it’s finally out. Apple Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a new payments system called Apple Pay along with its iPhone 6 and large-screen iPhone 6 Plus smart phones and a snazzy new smart watch. As predicted, the updated iPhone uses near-field communication (NFC) technology for fast …

  The Merchant Customer Exchange, a retailer-controlled mobile payment scheme, has given its service a name. Dubbed CurrentC, the service will not be available outside of testing until 2015. First announced in 2012, the long-gestating scheme aims to give participating retailers their own mobile-wallet service that eschews the traditional payment …

Mobile-payments providers have looked to offers and rewards as a means of engaging with consumers and merchants and boosting payments activity. Indeed, most mobile strategists value the technology’s ability to deliver rewards at the moment consumers are in the store, if not necessarily in front of the relevant merchandise. But …

Visa Inc. on Wednesday said eight merchant acquirers and e-commerce platform providers will be rolling out the 1-month-old Visa Checkout online and mobile payment service. With three platform providers already offering the service, up to 4 million U.S. online merchants will be able use Visa Checkout, Visa claims. The acquirers …

Apple Inc. is expected to release its iPhone 6 next month and, not surprisingly, speculation about the coming smart phone’s features is intense. But a new report from IDC Financial Insights cautions that Apple is not out to reshape the mobile-payments industry. Many of the rumors in payments circles center …

Deals for financial and payments technology companies drove worldwide merger-and-acquisition activity in the technology sector to new highs in the second quarter, according to a report released on Thursday. n Transactions for payments and financial technologies firms was especially heavy in the second quarter. The quarter’s 60 deals exceeded the …

In a move that could significantly boost mobile-payments activity, PayPal Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a single-click payment method for merchant apps. Dubbed One Touch, the method allows mobile users to log in once with their user names and passwords, then simply touch or click on a “buy” button for all …

  In a recent blog post, Square Inc. is attempting to counter some of the attention foisted on Amazon.com Inc. after the announcement last week of Local Register, the online retailer’s mobile point-of-sale service, by dispelling the “top 10 myths” about Square’s service. Local Register enables retailers to accept payment …

This week, Amazon launched Amazon Local Register, the mobile POS (mPOS) solution that may well kill mPOS solutions. That’s not to say that they won’t exist anymore, but it is to say that mPOS as a value proposition in and of itself is really going to struggle moving forward. Square, …