Mobile Commerce

It was only a matter of time before mobile payments came to the parking industry. And no, the latest application doesn’t depend on near-field communication (NFC), a contactless technology that has been ensnarled in endless disputes between banks and mobile operators and is reportedly being eyed by high-flying players like …

PayPal Inc.’s move into the physical point of sale is likely to involve handset-based services that make shopping and buying easier for consumers rather than a direct assault on the checkout counter, according to one expert who follows electronic payments. PayPal will most likely integrate its payments platform with applications …

Visa Inc. on Wednesday said it is adding person-to-person payment capabilities to its network and cards so that all Visa-branded credit, debit, and prepaid cards from U.S. issuers would be able to receive P2P payments. The first P2P providers to walk through Visa's new door were bank processor Fiserv Inc. …

VeriFone Systems Inc. fired a blast at rival mobile-payments provider Square Inc. on Wednesday and sustained some powder burns in the process, but the leading U.S. point-of-sale terminal maker nonetheless may have brought some legitimate concerns about Square’s security into the open, according to at least one analyst. By Thursday, …

The debut on Wednesday of Apple Inc.’s iPad 2 ushers in a thinner, lighter version of a tablet computer that debuted a year ago to considerable fanfare both generally and in the payments business. Like its sister product, the iPhone, the iPad won adoption by some merchants looking for ways …

Banking processor Fiserv Inc. announced a trio of acquisitions in a 24-hour period that included picking up Atlanta-based mobile-banking technology provider Mobile Commerce Ltd., known as M-Com.  Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv also announced it is acquiring Maverick Network Solutions Inc., a Wilmington, Del.-based prepaid card processor, and Credit Union On-Line Inc., …

The new Isis mobile-payments venture has recruited some merchants as it builds the acceptance side of its network, the Isis executive overseeing the merchant effort said on Wednesday. “We do have signed merchants at this point,” Jim Stapleton, head of sales and account management at Isis and a veteran of …

The rocketing popularity of Google Inc.’s Android operating system for smart phones could also propel near-field communication (NFC) technology for mobile financial services now that NXP Semiconductor and Giesecke & Devrient have introduced NFC software for Android phones. The open-source code, announced this week at a major telecom conference in …

JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to use Mitek Systems Inc.’s Mobile Deposit software in future versions of its QuickDeposit service for mobile remote deposit capture across multiple smart-phone operating platforms. The announcement furthered Mitek’s lead as the top vendor in the fast-growing mobile-capture niche. Citing confidentiality agreements with customers, Mitek …

ProPay Inc. this week announced a mobile-payments product that lets consumers communicate with as well as pay merchants from a smart phone whether they are in the store or just nearby. The application, which ProPay calls Zumogo, works with a handful of restaurants in the company’s home state of Utah, …