Mobile Commerce

  n With an over-the-air update, users of the Nexus S 4G smart phone on the Sprint Nextel network are now able to use the Google Wallet to make purchases at any of the 144,000 U.S. merchant locations that accept contactless payments. For the time being, the Google application can …

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  n A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, Washington, D.C., has found that about 20% of U.S. adults uses a smart phone to access a location-based service or a so-called geo-social site, or a social network in which the user “checks in” with his or …

North American sales were flat, but leading U.S. point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. still posted a 21% increase in revenues on the strength of its international business in the quarter ended July 31, and profits jumped 42%. Fresh from its August acquisition of long-time rival Hypercom Corp., VeriFone anticipates …

  As manufacturers scramble to develop tablet computers to challenge Apple Inc.’s dominant iPad, findings from an electronic-commerce services firm suggest payments companies looking for new transaction volume through mobile devices would be smart to do everything they can to encourage consumers to buy things on the iPad and its …

One week after announcing it is testing dual-message PIN debit, the Shazam debit network said on Tuesday it will introduce later this year a product that will let merchants accept PIN debit transactions on smart phones. The product, developed by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based authentication-technology vendor Adaptive Payments, comes as networks …

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It won’t be long until payment card acceptance applications and card readers for smart phones are as easy to get in stores as cornflakes or socks. The latest example: Intuit Inc. and Verizon Wireless on Thursday announced that Intuit’s GoPayment mobile application and reader are now available in Verizon Wireless’s …

At first glance, the nascent mobile-payments business doesn’t seem to be the major driver of Google Inc.’s $12.5 billion cash acquisition of cell-phone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. The deal, however, could spur payments using near-field communications (NFC) technology as software companies, phone manufacturers, and mobile-communications software companies jockey for …

  A technical gremlin has caused thousands of developers to be short-changed on payments they are due for applications they sell through Google Inc.’s online Android Market. The glitch, which developed some time in July, has created a mismatch between customers’ orders on Google Checkout, the Mountain View, Calif.-based Web …