The new mobile-payments network being developed by retailers went public on Wednesday with its name, Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, and the identities of 15 initial merchant-investors. But, five months after merchants first revealed plans to build an alternative to the major card networks as mobile payments take hold in …

The announcement late on Tuesday that Square Inc. struck a deal with coffee giant Starbucks Corp. for the first time puts Square, a specialist in bringing mobile-payment acceptance to small businesses and consumers, into the role of a more traditional card processor for a large national merchant. And at least …

With much of the nascent mobile-payments business concentrated on consumer access via streamlined applications rather than browsers, news emerged this week that handset users are rapidly adopting apps. Indeed, usage of downloaded apps crossed the 50% mark in March and stood at 51.1% in May, according to figures released this …

Person-to-person payments continue to improve technologically and attract consumers, but providers still haven’t figured out how to make money from them, according to new findings from First Annapolis Consulting Inc. Linthicum, Md.-based First Annapolis in the second quarter tested a dozen P2P services from large banks and processors down to …

Google Inc.’s disclosure last week that 1 million Android-powered devices are now shipping each week with near-field communication (NFC) capability has renewed industry speculation about when NFC-based mobile payments will become a mainstream service. The shipment figure, a rare disclosure from the tightlipped Web search giant, came with weekly activation …

Peter Lucas Time was, mobile payments was mostly talk. No more. Now, with new features, pricing, and promotion, some providers are pumping out real transaction volume. For months, payments executives have been reading about digital wallets and acceptance applications from some of the biggest names in the business, including Visa …

The card payment system was built on top of a network that was great for its day but no longer suits a modern economy, says Ben Milne, who argues it’s time for something faster and better. When the bottom of the technology stack is 40 years old, it can stand …

Hard on the heels of its announcement last week that it is now processing for some 2 million merchants and individuals, mobile-acceptance startup Square Inc. on Tuesday said it has added customer-loyalty functions to its Pay with Square and Square Register applications. The new functions will allow both merchants and …

Nearly half of consumers are interested in using mobile wallets, and they are not necessarily wedded to wallet products from banks, according to research released on Monday. Indeed, some 48% of U.S. consumers surveyed online in April said they are interested in mobile wallets. Of these, 80% expressed a preference …

Merchant processor Square Inc. doubled the number of physical stores at which its now-famous payment card reader for mobile devices can be purchased with Monday’s announcement that the reader is available at Walgreen Co., Staples Inc., and FedEx Corp.’s FedEx Office stores. The three new merchants collectively add 10,000 locations: …