Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
At least one competitor of payment-service provider WePay Inc. is working to take advantage of WePay’s decision to cease providing a hosted checkout service for online merchants. 2Checkout.com Inc., Columbus, Ohio, this week began wooing merchants that may want to stay with a hosted checkout service rather than use the …
Read More »New T-Mobile Prepaid Card Presents Opportunities and Risks for Blackhawk Network
It’s best known for its Gift Card Mall displays of retailer gift cards and other prepaid cards in grocery stores, but prepaid card services provider Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. is a force in general-purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards. It had a GPR business even before 2010, when it launched its …
Read More »Global Gateway Adyen Sees $14 Billion in 2013 Transactions, Up 40% from 2012
Global payment gateway provider Adyen processed more than $14 billion in global payments in 2013, a 40% increase from $10 billion in 2012, the company recently announced. n Mobile transactions in particular are growing for the Amsterdam-based company, and taking a larger share of overall transactions. Mobile payments accounted for …
Read More »Rapidly Expanding Online Merchant Base Could Give Shopify an Edge in Mobile Battle
Shopify Inc.’s recent move to offer its merchants a mobile point-of-sale application marks yet another entry in a market that has filled up fast with competitors ranging from PayPal Inc. to Square Inc. and dozens in between. “You would think we’d reached everybody [with mobile POS products], but we haven’t,” …
Read More »Online Game Provider Zynga Looks to Diversify Its Payment Options With a Bitcoin Test
The Bitcoin virtual currency continued its march toward the payments mainstream with the recent announcement by online game developer Zynga Inc. that it would test Bitcoin acceptance with some of its popular games. n “In response to Bitcoin’s rise in popularity around the world, Zynga, with help from BitPay, is …
Read More »PayPal Picks up StackMob In Bid to Streamline Payments Features for Mobile Apps
PayPal Inc.’s acquisition of mobile developer StackMob Inc. may help it build a talent pool to more quickly and easily deploy mobile apps, suggests one analyst. n “We are building one of the most modern, advanced development environment and infrastructure in the payments industry,” a PayPal spokesperson says. “We believe …
Read More »Amazon’s Apparent GoPago Deal Could Presage Move Into Brick-And-Mortar POS, Experts Say
Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. appears to have bought tablet and mobile point-of-sale provider GoPago Inc., according to a report in La Repubblica, an Italy-based newspaper. In the report, Vincenzo Di Nicola, a GoPago co-founder and its chief technology officer, says Amazon paid an undisclosed amount for the company. The article, …
Read More »Mercury Payment Takes A Step Toward Going Public
Mercury Payment Systems LLC may be considering a move to take the independent sales organization public. On Friday, Durango, Colo.-based Mercury issued a release disclosing it had filed a confidential draft registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that may presage the payment company’s public stock offering. Such …
Read More »Apple, Shopkick Among First to Deploy Bluetooth LE for Commerce; PayPal’s Closing in
A wireless connectivity standard known as Bluetooth Low Energy appears to be getting a high-energy reception in payments and commerce. Apple Inc. is among the first to put the technology to use in its stores. On-the-spot rewards company Shopkick is testing it in two Macy’s stores, one in New York …
Read More »Retailer-Backed MCX Signs up ‘Heart’ of Commerce, Locks in Merchant Acceptance
While questions remain concerning when it will launch and how it will work, the Merchant Customer Exchange mobile-payments venture continues to sign up retail companies large and small. And in a twist unique to MCX, with each merchant it signs for acceptance it apparently fences off that merchant from competing …
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