Mobile Commerce

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews With malware and hacker attacks on payment card-accepting devices increasing in sophistication, the PCI Security Standards Council has announced updated rules for protecting such devices. “The updates are designed to stay one step ahead of criminals who continue to develop new ways to steal credit and debit …

• Apple Inc. said it is bringing its Apple Pay mobile-payments service to Japan with its new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus smart phones, and Apple Watch Series 2. Apple Pay will work with Japan’s variant of near-field communication (NFC) contactless technology known as FeliCa. • The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Mobile-payments services have plenty of issues with adoption and usage, but battery fires aren’t likely to be among them. While it’s true that a consumer can’t use a mobile wallet if he’s afraid his smart phone will ignite, payments experts say the problem that developed last …

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it is now supporting Alphabet Inc.’s Android Pay mobile-payment service. Chase, which is in the process of launching its own mobile wallet, Chase Pay, has issued more than 90 million Visa cards. • In related news, Alphabet’s Google unit said it is making Android Pay …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews For drivers passing through the Chicago area, there’s now an app that will handle payment on the 292-mile-long ribbon of toll roads snaking through 12 counties in Northern Illinois. FastToll, from a Las Vegas-based developer called Pragmistic LLC, arrives just ahead of the Labor Day weekend, …

By Jim Daly @DTPaymentNews If there’s one thing about EMV chip card payments that always works, it’s their ability to elicit strong feelings from those in the payments industry. It happened once again on Wednesday, when attendees at the Mobile Payments Conference 2016 in Chicago met for a closing panel …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Consumers will use Apple Pay and Alphabet Inc.’s Android Pay online and in-app to make $8 billion in payments for digital and physical goods by 2018, almost 15 times more than the $540 million forecast for 2016, according to Juniper Research, a U.K.-based research firm. Juniper released …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Dollars loaded onto closed-loop gift cards fell 9% in 2015, according to new research from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. But one major prepaid card issuer, Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc., franchisor of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins stores, reports that its DD Perks loyalty program now has more …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Retailers considering or starting a digital gift card program may do well to study the programs offered by Sephora USA Inc., Starbucks Corp., The Home Depot Inc., Dunkin’ Donuts, and Amazon.com Inc. Their digital gift card programs ranked at the top of a roster of 100 retailers …

• Guardian Analytics, a fraud-risk technology vendor, introduced what it says is the industry’s first real-time service to detect fraud in same-day automated clearing house transactions. Same-day ACH is scheduled to begin processing Sept. 23 with ACH credits, leaving some experts concerned that originating and receiving institutions will have less …