In a development with implications for mobile commerce in the U.S., the number of wireless subscribers has for the first time exceeded the number of landline connections in this country. According to a report compiled by the Federal Communications Commission, there were 181.1 mobile subscriptions in place on Dec. 31, …

Reino Parking Systems Inc. said today it had deployed parking meters in locations around the U.S. that will accept credit card payments from either cards or mobile phones, with transactions processed through SunTrust Merchant Services LLC and Peppercoin Inc. The meters are equipped with card swipes, but users with cards …

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 …

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 …

In an effort to make amends to sellers that were affected by its recent service outage, PayPal Inc. will credit all seller transaction fees incurred between 12 a.m. and midnight Pacific time tomorrow. Accounts eligible to receive the credits, which PayPal will distribute by Nov. 25, are premier and business …

New processing technologies for so-called micropayments–transactions carrying a value under $5–have received a lot of attention in recent months as the number of sellers of online digital content expands and as the market for song downloads explodes, but some observers now question how far the market can grow. Startups like …

In an ambitious effort to capture a share of the rapidly expanding markets for both digital content and goods at the point of sale, micropayments processor Peppercoin Inc. today is announcing a second generation of the payments model it introduced commercially only last December. Considerably revised, the Waltham, Mass.-based company's …

Peppercoin Inc., a micropayments processor in Waltham, Mass., sees a potential market for transactions of small and very small values reaching into the trillions of dollars, embracing both the online and point-of-sale markets. To tap that potential, the new company is moving toward a rollout, planned for mid-summer, of a …

A survey of more than 170 senior-level executives for electronic payments processors, networks, and online merchants at a micropayments conference held earlier this month indicates a majority of the online merchants in attendance will be selling content with a micropayments system within a year. The survey, whose results were released …

A service that has been in alpha test for the past three months to allow consumers to make micropayments for entertainment services is expected to be rolled out in the next month. Early participants in the service offered by Waltham, Mass.-based Peppercoin Inc. include Music Rebellion, an online service that …