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Merchant processor Square Inc. doubled the number of physical stores at which its now-famous payment card reader for mobile devices can be purchased with Monday’s announcement that the reader is available at Walgreen Co., Staples Inc., and FedEx Corp.’s FedEx Office stores. The three new merchants collectively add 10,000 locations: …
Read More »Startup Claims More Than 1,000 Developers for Streamlined in-App Payment Plug-in
A startup called Zooz this week announced it has registered more than 1,000 developers for a payment plug-in that, the company says, streamlines card-based payments while users are within an app. Zooz, whose product is available for both Android and Apple iOS devices, also launched an HTML5 version to allow …
Read More »Groupon Doubles Down on Its POS Thrust with Acquisition of Hospitality App Startup
Groupon Inc. redoubled its efforts to penetrate the point-of-sale market with its acquisition of New York City-based software startup Breadcrumb, whose product lets restaurants run transactions on iPad tablets. The deal, announced on Tuesday, follows news that the Chicago-based daily-deal giant is testing a mobile-acceptance service in and around San …
Read More »Nordstrom Projects Rollout of Register-Like POS Handsets by Early 2013
High-end department-store chain Nordstrom Inc., which has been testing some 6,000 mobile devices for customer service and checkout, expects to roll out a significantly larger number of the devices in the first quarter of next year and to add as much capability to them as it has on its cash …
Read More »Reports Indicate Groupon Is Joining a Crowded Field of Mobile-Acceptance Players
Just as payments executives were preparing to plunge into the Memorial Day holiday weekend, reports emerged that Groupon Inc. is testing a mobile-acceptance application in and around San Francisco. The reports, which are based in part on a solicitation received via e-mail by a merchant, indicate that the Chicago-based daily-deal …
Read More »PayPal Signs 15 New Retailers for POS, Plus Terminal Makers and App Developers
PayPal Inc. on Thursday announced that 15 more retailers had joined its point-of-sale initiative, which means the No. 1 alternative-payments provider is now more than three-quarters of the way toward meeting its stated goal of having 20 national retailers accepting PayPal at physical stores by the end of 2012. PayPal …
Read More »PCI Council’s Latest Mobile Guidance Doesn’t End Freeze on App Approvals
The PCI Security Standards Council on Wednesday published guidance on how merchants can accept card payments through smart phones and tablet computers while protecting sensitive cardholder data. The guidelines, however, do not bring to an end an 18-month-old freeze the council has imposed on approvals of software applications for mobile …
Read More »Weeks Away from Launch, Isis Announces Its First Batch of Merchants
For months, the carrier-backed Isis mobile-payments initiative could boast just one accepting merchant, the Utah Transit Authority in Salt Lake City, one of two cities it plans to launch its service in this summer. That changed on Tuesday with the announcement that Isis has signed some 50 retail companies both …
Read More »Google Starts Selling a Wallet-Equipped Smart Phone Directly to Consumers
Google Inc. breathed a bit of new life into its struggling Google Wallet franchise on Tuesday with the announcement that it is releasing directly to the public a new Android-powered phone that features the Wallet app. The so-called unlocked device, a Nexus smart phone, will work on any carrier network …
Read More »Consumer-Capture Pioneer Chase Rolls out Smart-Phone Capture for Businesses
JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Tuesday introduced what appears to be the first commercially available mobile remote deposit capture service for corporate entities. Widely known in electronic-payments circles for its TV ads for its consumer-based mobile check-capture product, Chase is now seeking new clients for its Image Deposit Direct Mobile …
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