Boston-based Vayusa Inc., which markets its m-commerce service under the name MobileLime, has had discussions with a national retailer and restaurant chain about offering its m-commerce network nationally. If successful, the deals could pave the way for MobileLime to reach the 172 million or so mobile users in the U.S. …
Read More »Mobile-Gaming Boom May Force Changes in Mobile Payments
The booming market for mobile games is set to overtake that for ring tones as the largest digital-content market in m-commerce, with carrier-based billing remaining the dominant payment model for the foreseeable future. According to the most conservative projection offered by experts speaking this week at a conference on the …
Read More »How Resellers Are Driving the Market for Prepaid Wireless Service
Prepaid wireless service is surging in the U.S in large part because of the efforts of so-called mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which re-sell airtime from the major wireless networks, experts said at an industry conference yesterday. Indeed, the prepaid wireless market in the U.S., counting both airtime and carriers' …
Read More »Peppercoin 3.0 Debuts with Prepaid And Subscription Capabilities
Peppercoin Inc. today unveiled the third version of its processing system for small-value and micropayments transactions and announced a processing deal with First Data Merchant Services, which is expected to offer Peppercoin's gateway to its base of 3.5 million merchants. Peppercoin 3.0, which adds subscription and prepaid payment capability to …
Read More »Half of Online Banking Customers Are Phishing Targets, Survey Shows
Half of online banking customers now receive fraudulent e-mails, known as phishes, and 78% say they are less inclined to respond to e-mails from the banks they do business with. That's according to a study released by New York-based security software company Cyota Inc. that illustrates how much worse the …
Read More »BitPass Rolls out a Hosted Service for Small Sellers of Digital Content
Bitpass Inc., a 2-year-old processor of micropayments on the Internet, has rolled out a new service allowing individuals and small businesses to sell music, photos, or other digital content without creating an e-commerce site. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bitpass says it will host the content for sellers and handle payments, “from …
Read More »Valista Breaks into U.S. Web Payments with AOL Premium Content Deal
America Online Inc. will begin offering packages of premium content on its Internet service through new software from Valista Ltd., an Ireland-based payment software company, the companies announced today. The new solution allows AOL to target and price particular packages, or bundles, to particular audiences, with special promotional pricing and …
Read More »Moneris Signs Up Peppercoin for Pint-Sized POS and Web Payments
Moneris Solutions, a major acquiring processor in North America, has become the first processor to agree to adopt Peppercoin Inc.'s latest micropayments system. Under an agreement reached this week, Peppercoin will serve as a gateway for transactions performed at both brick-and-mortar and online U.S. merchant locations and sites served by …
Read More »Way Systems Heats up the Market for Wireless Transactions
The market for wireless point-of-sale credit and debit card transactions is about to heat up. Founded in 2002, Boston-based Way Systems Inc. is introducing a point-to-point processing system that includes mobile phones equipped with card swipes, security and transaction programming, and keypads for personal identification numbers. The swipe, keypad, and …
Read More »With Gateways Under Pressure, Authorize.net Tries to Reinvent Itself
As transaction processors add services to their basic product, they put increasing pressure on gateway providers to differentiate themselves. One of the most ambitious strategies for differentiation is being pursued by Authorize.net Inc., acquired this spring for $82 million by Lightbridge Inc., a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of billing and fraud-management …
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