Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Shopify Inc.’s recent move to offer its merchants a mobile point-of-sale application marks yet another entry in a market that has filled up fast with competitors ranging from PayPal Inc. to Square Inc. and dozens in between. “You would think we’d reached everybody [with mobile POS products], but we haven’t,” …
Read More »With Starbucks As Inspiration, Mercury Launches a Card And App for Small Merchants
Noting the success Starbucks Corp. has had with its prepaid card and mobile app, Mercury Payment Systems LLC figures the small merchants it serves would like to create a similar program but lack Starbucks’s considerable resources. To bring such a program within reach, the Durango, Colo.-based merchant processor this week …
Read More »DoubleBeam Buys GoPago’s POS Business; Amazon May Have a Piece, Too
DoubleBeam Inc., a mobile retail and point-of-sale company, has bought mobile POS system maker GoPago for an undisclosed sum. This counters a report last week that suggested e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. acquired GoPago. San Francisco-based GoPago, founded in 2009 and backed by a 2012 investment of an undisclosed amount from …
Read More »PayPal Picks up StackMob In Bid to Streamline Payments Features for Mobile Apps
PayPal Inc.’s acquisition of mobile developer StackMob Inc. may help it build a talent pool to more quickly and easily deploy mobile apps, suggests one analyst. n “We are building one of the most modern, advanced development environment and infrastructure in the payments industry,” a PayPal spokesperson says. “We believe …
Read More »Apple, Shopkick Among First to Deploy Bluetooth LE for Commerce; PayPal’s Closing in
A wireless connectivity standard known as Bluetooth Low Energy appears to be getting a high-energy reception in payments and commerce. Apple Inc. is among the first to put the technology to use in its stores. On-the-spot rewards company Shopkick is testing it in two Macy’s stores, one in New York …
Read More »Retailer-Backed MCX Signs up ‘Heart’ of Commerce, Locks in Merchant Acceptance
While questions remain concerning when it will launch and how it will work, the Merchant Customer Exchange mobile-payments venture continues to sign up retail companies large and small. And in a twist unique to MCX, with each merchant it signs for acceptance it apparently fences off that merchant from competing …
Read More »Digital Transactions News Puts Apple’s iBeacon to the Test, And Finds It Works As Advertised
With 58% of U.S. consumers owning a smart phone, according to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, it’s no wonder that retailers want some time and space on the small-screen mobile devices. Apple Inc., which according to the Pew report, has 25% of the smart- phone …
Read More »Report: Mobile’s Lightning Pace Reshapes Payments, Redefines Card-Present Transactions
Because a consumer trying to make a purchase may use a credit or debit card, tap with a contactless card, or scan a bar code, merchants need to know about the range of payment options available to them. That’s why the Smart Card Alliance, a Princeton Junction, N.J.-based association, has …
Read More »Square Tries To Reinforce Its Hip Image With a Fourth-Generation Card Reader
Square Inc. on Monday introduced the fourth generation of its now-famous payment card reader for mobile devices. The company has added new technology and made the device 45% thinner than its 22-month-old predecessor, two factors that may reinforce Square’s message that it is the cool merchant processor, different from all …
Read More »Pay And Walk-Away App Debuts To Let Physical Merchants Combat Showrooming
A new smart-phone app hopes to give retailers an edge in capturing sales when consumers use their mobile devices in their stores. Dubbed SelfPay, the app enables consumers to pay for merchandise while standing in a store aisle and leave without stopping at a cash register. Developed by Digital Retail …
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