Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The carrier-backed Isis mobile-payment service debuted in a low-key launch Monday in Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City with almost 1,000 merchant locations participating and its near-field communication (NFC) system workable on nine smart-phone models. Digital Transactions News counted 493 merchant locations in the Salt Lake area and 470 in Austin, for …
Read More »With Isis Finally Launching Its Two-City Pilot, Consumers Get a Chance To Decide Its Fate
It looks like it’s finally going to happen. The much-anticipated, much- delayed Isis mobile-payment venture backed by three big telecommunications companies is scheduled to go live on Monday in its test cities of Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City. Now the ultimate consumers of the new system, mobile-phone users, will …
Read More »Wal-Mart Just One of Many Merchants Behind MCX, Best Buy Exec Says
Merchant Customer Exchange, the planned mobile-payments network by and for retailers, is more than an interchange play controlled by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to an executive whose company is represented on the nascent network’s board of directors. Stephanie Swain, senior director of financial services at electronics retailer Best Buy Co. …
Read More »Isis and USAT Strike a Deal That Could Bring Mobile Payments to 7,500 Vending Machines
Isis, the object of skepticism this summer because of delays in rolling out its mobile-payment system based on near-field communication (NFC) technology, might be about to gain some traction thanks to a new agreement with vending-machine payments provider USA Technologies Inc. (USAT). In a little-noticed disclosure last week, Malvern, Pa-based …
Read More »Eye on Mobile: Facebook Adds Carrier Billing; AmEx Supports Apple’s Passbook
Facebook Inc. watchers have had their antennae sensitized for some time for any scrap of news that might indicate the massive social network’s tendencies in payments. The company’s Monday announcement that it has begun supporting carrier billing for digital goods sold on its platform appears to be no exception. Already, …
Read More »Latest Isis Delay Leaves Open When the Venture Will Finally Launch
With the Isis mobile-payments venture having announced yet another delay, it remains unclear just what is causing the holdup and when the service will launch. And, say observers, time may be growing short for the venture, which is backed by three of the country’s largest wireless carriers. “I don’t know …
Read More »‘Disinformation,’ Fire, Losing Bidders, and Other Woes Plague VeriFone’s Summer
The financials looked good, but the Fates seemed to be spinning some entangling threads for VeriFone Systems Inc. during the leading point-of-sale terminal maker’s third fiscal quarter ended July 31. There was the challenge to VeriFone’s big win in Washington, D.C., where the company’s taxicab payment and media systems are …
Read More »Quiet During the Wallet Wars, Visa Readies V.me for a Year-End Rollout
With digital wallets from the likes of PayPal Inc., Google Inc., and the Isis consortium grabbing headlines, Visa Inc.’s V.me staff has been quiet but busy. The payment service is live with five online merchants, and Visa plans to introduce it as a commercial product by year’s end, a spokesperson …
Read More »Apple’s Move to Stop Samsung Models Unlikely to Impact NFC Wallets
Apple Inc.’s motion to stop sales of eight Samsung Electronics Co. handset models may not have a strong immediate impact on the major mobile wallet providers but could give Apple important advantages in the mobile-payments market later on, experts tell Digital Transactions News. Apple cited the Samsung models on Monday …
Read More »Eye on Mobile: Google Wallet’s All-Inclusive Future, Apple’s New Payments Patent
Google Inc. may have just overhauled its nearly year-old mobile wallet, but it still appears to have plenty of plans for the near future of the product. For example, the Web giant is looking at adding a person-to-person payment capability and allowing users to save credentials other than payment cards, …
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