Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
At first glance, the nascent mobile-payments business doesn’t seem to be the major driver of Google Inc.’s $12.5 billion cash acquisition of cell-phone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. The deal, however, could spur payments using near-field communications (NFC) technology as software companies, phone manufacturers, and mobile-communications software companies jockey for …
August, 2011
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11 August
A Technical Glitch Short-Changes Developers Selling Apps on Android Market
A technical gremlin has caused thousands of developers to be short-changed on payments they are due for applications they sell through Google Inc.’s online Android Market. The glitch, which developed some time in July, has created a mismatch between customers’ orders on Google Checkout, the Mountain View, Calif.-based Web …
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11 August
Just As NFC Gains Impetus, An Analyst Casts Doubt on Supply of Phones
With companies like Google Inc., Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc., and the major wireless carriers talking in recent months about near-field communication projects, observers could be forgiven for concluding that NFC-based mobile payments are poised for a breakthrough in the U.S. market. There could be just one problem: no NFC …
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11 August
Volatile Markets Hammer Payments Stocks, But Prepaid Players Most of All
The wild trading on stock markets worldwide over the past week has left U.S. payments-industry shares battered and bruised, though they made a mild recovery Thursday morning. Worst hit are shares of prepaid card companies, though networks, processors, and money-transfer providers are feeling the pain too. A Digital Transactions …
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9 August
A New Alphabet Soup, VARs and ISVs, Spells An Effective, But Expensive, Channel for Acquiring
Merchant acquirers once relied on independent agents, direct sales, and agent bank relationships to sign up merchants. Now, a new group has entered the picture and is accounting for a rapidly increasing share of new merchant accounts. Value-added resellers and independent software vendors will enroll 15% of all new …
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9 August
Visa Tries To Juice EMV And Mobile Payments with New Initiatives
Leading payment card network Visa Inc. on Tuesday announced three initiatives to spur adoption of so-called EMV contact and contactless chip cards and near-field communication (NFC) mobile payments in the U.S. Observers hailed Visa’s action, but noted that a full move to EMV and NFC mobile payments in the U.S. …
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7 August
Authorization, Processing Costs Drop, But Other Fees Climb for Acquirers, Study Shows
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4 August
The DoJ Anoints Gores As the Designated Buyer of Hypercom’s U.S. Assets
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it had reached a settlement with point-of-sale terminal makers VeriFone Holdings Inc. and Hypercom Corp. that calls for the sale of Hypercom’s U.S. assets to a unit of private-equity firm Gores Group LLC. The settlement removed an obstacle that held up VeriFone’s …
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3 August
Eschewing ‘Participation’ Fees, MasterCard Will Sweet-Talk Debit Issuers One by One
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3 August
Malware And Spear-Phishing Soar, Helping To Drive Rise in Breaches
While the payments business continues to fret about data breaches, new information emerged this week that helps explain how such pernicious leaks happen, and why they’re happening with increased frequency. While notable breaches like the one at Sony earlier this year steal headlines, cybercriminals are plundering accounts at organizations …