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Apple Inc.’s much anticipated Watch, which includes a near-field communication (NFC) chip for making contactless payments, will be protected by a four-digit PIN, reports Australian Web site CSO. Apple Watch users will need to enter the passcode to use Apple Pay on the watch, the site says. It remains unclear …
Read More »USA Technologies Reaches Accord With MasterCard on Small-Ticket Debit Interchange
By Jim Daly After a hiatus of more than three years, vending machines that get payment services through USA Technologies Inc. will soon be accepting MasterCard Inc.’s debit cards again as the result of an agreement between the two companies that USA Technologies announced Friday. Under the three-year agreement, “MasterCard …
Read More »With a Wary Eye on Apple Pay, Google Reported to Be in Talks to Buy Softcard
Major tech and payments companies are reportedly showing an interest in acquiring Softcard, the troubled mobile-payments joint venture owned by three of the nation’s biggest mobile operators. Google Inc. is in “exclusive” talks with the company and has offered at least $50 million for it, The Wall Street Journal reported …
Read More »With ‘Smart Band,’ Wirecard Combines Wearables With Host Card Emulation
The number of anticipated wearable devices that can be used as payment devices has increased by one with the debut of the Wirecard Smart Band from processor Wirecard AG. Munich, Germany-based Wirecard is using host card emulation, a variant of near-field communication, in its devices. With HCE, banks and other …
Read More »PayPal Here Reader Adds Windows 8.1 Support, With App Integration Later This Month
PayPal Inc. updated its reader for its PayPal Here mobile point-of-sale service with Windows 8.1 support and separately plans to release software to integrate reader support into iOS and Android apps. Introduced in 2012, PayPal Here enables merchants to use their smart phones and tablets as payment-acceptance devices. The inclusion …
Read More »Restaurateurs Look to Tablets And Kiosks To Fuse In-Store, Digital Commerce
CKE Restaurants Inc., parent of the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast-food chains, and TGI Fridays Inc. are using Microsoft Corp. technology to speed up the ordering and purchase process in their restaurants, the Redmond, Wash.-based computing giant announced on Monday. Carrollton, Texas-based TGI Fridays is putting 8-inch tablets into the …
Read More »Doubts About Bitcoin’s Appeal May Lie Behind Its Price Dive Since New Year’s Day
No one can say for sure why the price of Bitcoin has dived sharply since the turn of the year, but that doesn’t mean market observers don’t have theories. These range from rampant short selling to the hack last week at Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp, in which crooks siphoned out $5.2 …
Read More »New Verifone mPOS Device, Android Tablet Among Flurry of NRF Announcements
Several payments-industry vendors are making product and services announcements in conjunction with the National Retail Federation’s annual Big Show convention this week in New York. Verifone unveiled the PayWare Mobile e355, a mobile point-of-sale terminal that accepts magnetic stripe, near-field communication (NFC), Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV), and Apple Pay transactions. Available in …
Read More »Hard Times at Softcard: Mobile-Payments Venture Lays Off 60 Employees
Softcard, the mobile-payments venture of Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA, has laid of 60 employees in a restructuring, according to media reports. The layoffs raise questions about the future of Softcard, formerly known as Isis, which has had trouble gaining consumer and merchant acceptance for its near-field communication-based …
Read More »BluePay Acquisition Bolsters Integrated POS Efforts As New Exec Takes Over
Merchant-services company BluePay Processing Inc. has bought CDI Technology Corp., which provides e-commerce software and payment services for companies that use business-management software such as Oracle JD Edwards and SAP. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lombard, Ill.-based CDI integrates e-commerce and payments into business-management software, often called …
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