Mobile Commerce

Mobile payments are barely out of the starting gate, but fraudsters are quickly discovering the new channel’s potential for making a dishonest buck, according to new research from LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Fraud losses from mobile payments as a percentage of total revenue were 1.13% compared with 0.83% for online-only merchants …

A dramatic downdraft in overall mobile-phone ownership has robbed mobile banking of its forward thrust, but the rapid rise of smart phones is compensating for much of that loss, a new research report says. Indeed, smart phone ownership will exceed that of so-called feature phones as soon as next year, …

With the holiday shopping season only weeks away, the nation’s biggest retailers are falling short in their offerings of virtual gift cards, according to research released on Thursday. Of the country’s 100 biggest online merchants—many of which also operate large brick-and-mortar chains—only half offer virtual cards, which are gift “cards” …

Bling Nation Ltd.’s decision to use VeriFone Systems Inc. terminals, announced this week, includes an agreement to harness VeriFone’s transaction gateway as well as its reseller network in a move that could bring PayPal Inc. acceptance to thousands of brick-and-mortar merchants. Bling has been testing PayPal acceptance since the end …

Visa Inc. raised its profile in the growing transit payments market on Tuesday with announcements that it was backing mobile payments for New York City-area commuters and was the exclusive card network for new prepaid fare cards in Los Angeles. Visa also said its payWave contactless card became usable Aug. …

Rising interest in contactless mobile payments via micro Secure Digital (SD) cards has led to the introduction of a feature that will let banks personalize SD cards for payments in a matter of minutes. The new feature, which can be used in a branch or other office, has the potential …

Early adopters in the consumer remote deposit capture market say their services are a hit with customers, but they also say they are able to keep risk under control as remote deposit for smart phones seems poised to hit the big time. “It’s actually something that’s been very, very successful …

Forming a mutual-aid society of sorts, mobile-payments technology provider Obopay Inc. and payment processor First Data Corp.’s Star electronic funds transfer network on Wednesday announced that Obopay’s new Mobile Money for Banks service would incorporate Star’s Expedited Transfer Service. The arrangement potentially gives Obopay as it ramps up its U.S. …

Facing strong competition from up-and-coming open-loop prepaid cards and maturity in some of its subcategories, closed-loop prepaid cards still managed to grow 7.1% last year, according to a new study from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator estimates load volume on closed-loop cards, which are issued by or for …

While Apple Inc.’s iPhone remains the iconic smart phone for mobile payments, some recent research reveals that the Android platform produced by rival Silicon Valley denizen Google Inc. is mounting a serious challenge in shipments and usage of the mobile Web. In a development with importance to e-commerce merchants and …