Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Transactions using mobile wallets totaled at least 250.6 million and amounted to at least $9.5 billion in value in 2012, according to a payments report issued Thursday by the Federal Reserve. These results, part of a comprehensive update to a study released in December, represent the central bank’s first effort …
Read More »Spurning Publicity, Amazon Launches a Mobile Wallet with Modest Features—So Far
Without fanfare, Amazon.com Inc. last week introduced a trial version of its first digital wallet. The free Android app, known as Amazon Wallet, has been available since July 17 on Amazon’s own App Store and on Google Play. It is also available pre-installed on Amazon’s recently unveiled smart phone, the …
Read More »Visa Revamps Its Online Wallet, And Gives It a New Name: Visa Checkout
Visa Inc. says its new online payment service, Visa Checkout, should help improve conversion rates for e-commerce retailers by making it easier for consumers to pay. The service, available in the United States, Canada and Australia, enables consumers to pay online on any device, Visa says. Visa Checkout replaces the …
Read More »How Bluetooth Beacons Are Central to GoPago And Slyde Mobile Payment And Offers App
Bluetooth low energy beacons will play a key role in a mobile payment and loyalty service being developed by SK Planet Inc. and DoubleBeam Inc. that promises easier mobile payments and offer redemption. The beacons connect Bluetooth low energy-compatible smart phones with DoubleBeam’s GoPago tablet-based point-of-sale system. Now in …
Read More »Deciding to Change the Isis Brand May Be the Easy Part Compared to Doing It
The decision by JVL Ventures LLC to rename its Isis mobile-payments company may have been the easy part. Actually scrapping the brand and replacing it with a new name and logo will be much more challenging, experts say. “It’s a huge rebranding exercise,” says Nick Holland, who follows mobile payments …
Read More »Reaching 70% Penetration, Smart Phones Cement Place As Rapidly Adopted Technology
Virtually non-existent seven years ago, the smart phone is steadily establishing its place as perhaps the most rapidly adopted consumer electronic device in U.S. history. Some 70% of U.S. mobile subscribers—or 169 million people—owned one by the end of May, up from 66% just since February, according to the latest …
Read More »Opening Its Developer Platform, SimplyTapp Seeks to Ease Cloud-Based NFC for Issuers
The startup that popularized a cloud-based approach to mobile payments using near-field communication (NFC) on Monday opened to card issuers and mobile-application providers a developer platform that could make it cheaper and easier to include digital cards in mobile apps. The platform, from Austin, Texas-based SimplyTapp Inc., offers tools specific …
Read More »Amazon’s First Smart Phone Harbors a Big Mobile Commerce Promise For the Retailer
Rumors from the past few years that Amazon.com Inc. was building a smart phone bore fruit Wednesday when the online retailer revealed the Amazon Fire, a mobile device built to ease the mobile commerce experience on its Web site. It may herald another way to shop Amazon, but it …
Read More »Mobile-App Developer Exploits a Growing Market for Virtual Tickets on Mass Transit
Technology continues to drive change in the way riders on America’s mass-transit systems pay fares. While a few agencies have cast their lot with contactless card systems that also accept general-purpose debit and credit cards with contactless chips, other systems are turning to smart phones as add-ons to existing fare …
Read More »Tim Hortons Adds a Mobile-Payments Function to Its App
Diners visiting a Tim Hortons restaurant in Canada and the United States now have a new way to pay for their meals and coffee. The restaurant chain, which has more than 3,600 Canadian locations and 870 in the United States, has added a mobile-payments function to its smart-phone app. …
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