Competitive Strategies

Facebook Inc. watchers have had their antennae sensitized for some time for any scrap of news that might indicate the massive social network’s tendencies in payments. The company’s Monday announcement that it has begun supporting carrier billing for digital goods sold on its platform appears to be no exception. Already, …

Growing demand from financial institutions for more advanced mobile- banking features is prompting Brookfield, Wis.-based banking-solutions provider Fiserv Inc. to expand the breadth of services available through its Mobiliti mobile-banking platform. A key service will be person-to-person payments, a Fiserv executive says. Fiserv plans to make its Popmoney person-to-person payments …

With the Isis mobile-payments venture having announced yet another delay, it remains unclear just what is causing the holdup and when the service will launch. And, say observers, time may be growing short for the venture, which is backed by three of the country’s largest wireless carriers. “I don’t know …

A 2-year-old startup that allows consumers to use prepaid cards augmented with funds from participating merchants is expected to launch its product commercially next week following a nearly nine-month pilot in the Bay area. Emeryville, Calif.-based Marqeta Inc., which has already signed up about 250 merchants, is banking on the …

The financials looked good, but the Fates seemed to be spinning some entangling threads for VeriFone Systems Inc. during the leading point-of-sale terminal maker’s third fiscal quarter ended July 31. There was the challenge to VeriFone’s big win in Washington, D.C., where the company’s taxicab payment and media systems are …

With digital wallets from the likes of PayPal Inc., Google Inc., and the Isis consortium grabbing headlines, Visa Inc.’s V.me staff has been quiet but busy. The payment service is live with five online merchants, and Visa plans to introduce it as a commercial product by year’s end, a spokesperson …

Apple Inc.’s motion to stop sales of eight Samsung Electronics Co. handset models may not have a strong immediate impact on the major mobile wallet providers but could give Apple important advantages in the mobile-payments market later on, experts tell Digital Transactions News. Apple cited the Samsung models on Monday …

Mobile solutions for parking payments received a boost last week with the citywide launch of Parkmobile USA Inc.’s service in Birmingham, Mich., and the addition of new features to QuickPay Corp.’s mobile-payment service for a major parking company in San Francisco. In Birmingham, drivers can now use Parkmobile’s mobile applications …

Chicago-based Braintree Payments Solutions LLC, an independent sales organization specializing in online merchants, expects its $26. 2 million acquisition of New York City-based Venmo Inc. to position it as a direct competitor to PayPal Inc. in the person-to-person payments business and in digital-wallet applications. Venmo’s digital wallet allows consumers to …

Point-to-point encryption of card data has been a hot sell for merchant processors and vendors of security technology ever since the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) took effect in 2006 and especially after a spate of high-profile data breaches at merchants and processors not long afterward. Visa Inc., the …