Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Qpass Inc. has announced it is the first processor to reach the $1 billion mark in premium digital content. The Seattle-based company, which produces billing software primarily for mobile carriers, says it hit the milestone Jan. 11 and has now exceeded 400 million paid downloads on its platform. While not …
Read More »Nokia Says Look for New Phone, Busy Stores in ’06 NFC Payment Pilots
Projected pilots in 2006 for contactless payment capability on mobile phones with near-field communication (NFC) technology will include high-throughput retail stores, in contrast to the self-contained environment of a sports stadium, where the first such trial began last week (Digital Transactions News, Dec. 14). Tom Zalewski, head of mobile payment …
Read More »TextPayMe Aims Its Nascent Cell-Phone P-to-P Service at Web Markets
A tiny startup in Redmond, Wash., has signed up about 500 users for its week-old person-to-person payment service based on mobile phones and expects to launch a commercial service in 2006. With a head count of three, including two former Microsoft Corp. employees, TextPayMe Inc. allows individuals with cell phones …
Read More »Atlanta NFC Pilot, And Others, Will Lead to Late ’06 Commercialization
An Atlanta test of mobile-phone payments, mobile downloads, and other applications, announced today, is the first major U.S. test of near-field communication (NFC) for functions like contactless payments, but it won't be the last. Mohammad Khan, president and founder of ViVOtech Inc., which is supplying handset-based wallet software and contactless …
Read More »BitPass’s New CEO Hints MSN Deal Could Be Just the Start with Microsoft
BitPass Inc.'s agreement with Microsoft Corp. to process payments for digital content sold through regional sites operated by Microsoft's MSN portal may be just the start of a broader payments relationship with the Redmond, Wash. computing giant, says Douglas S. Knopper, BitPass's newly hired chief executive. Knopper, who joined Menlo …
Read More »Velocita, TNS, Pepsi Aim at Profits Via Wireless-Vending Payments
At $18 billion in annual sales, vending machines represent the biggest cash market in the country, and now card processors, networks, and wireless operators have it in their cross-hairs. The latest initiative involves a three-way venture in which Velocita Wireless LP, a a data-network spin-off of Cingular Wireless LLC, is …
Read More »First Integrated Mobile Terminal for E-Check Acceptance Coming Soon
An integrated device that would allow plumbers, maid services, pizza-delivery people, and other mobile merchants to perform electronic check conversion as well as accept cards will be commercially available by the end of the first quarter of 2006, according to Commerciant LP, the Houston-based company that makes the terminal. The …
Read More »Phishing E-Mails Fell, But Phishing And Malware Sites Rose, in August
The number of unique e-mail campaigns sent as part of phishing frauds fell in August to 13,776, almost 400 fewer than in July and the lowest number since March, according to statistics released today by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a consortium of payments processors, software vendors, and law-enforcement agencies that …
Read More »ReD Confirms Rumor It Is Seeking to Buy a Related Business
In a statement released today, Retail Decisions PLC confirmed it is seeking to buy an unnamed company “whose key activities are complementary to those of ReD.” In confirming what it called a “market rumor” about a pending transaction, the U.K.-based transaction processor and Internet payments gateway, which operates a U.S. …
Read More »New Research Unveils Big Challenges for Mobile Content Market
Separate reports released this week show that the market for mobile content?everything from games to ring tones to video clips and beyond?may have farther to go than previously supposed by those who see the market as a nascent source of micropayments. Also, other research reveals content marketers may have to …
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