Near-Field Communication (NFC)

CardFlight Inc., a provider of payment hardware and software-as-a-service payment applications, announced Wednesday a major product line expansion into the burgeoning market for countertop point-of-sale devices that can function as cash-register replacements. The new line of terminals, on which merchants can run CardFlight’s SwipeSimple software, includes a trio of models …

Mobile point-of-sale specialist CardFree Inc. announced Torchy’s Tacos, with 83 locations across seven states, has adopted its contactless ordering and services technology. Also, restaurant commerce provider GoTab Inc. debuted a contactless ordering starter kit for hospitality operators. San Francisco-based CardFree says the Austin, Texas-based Torchy’s Tacos started with online ordering and …

Mastercard Inc. will test contactless payment acceptance using common Android smart phones and tablets in the United States. The technology, relying on software developed by Mastercard Labs, enables these off-the-shelf devices to accept contactless payments with no special hardware.  Announced Monday, the service, called Tap on Phone, intends to capitalize …

Payments platform Qualpay said it is now supporting Google Pay transactions in recognition of increasing consumer usage of mobile wallets.Payments-technology provider Cardknox launched a beta version of its partner portal, intended for the use of sales partners and independent sales vendors to onboard and manage merchant-processing accounts.Digital-payments provider Payrailz has launched Action Insights, a service intended …

In the week before and the week of Christmas, consumers markedly increased their use of mobile wallets, with mobile wallets loaded with a debit card increasing 79.2% from the same weeks a year ago, according to the Tracking Transaction Trends report from PSCU, a credit union service organization. Use of mobile …

Buy now, pay later provider Afterpay Ltd. said users’ average ticket increased 30% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2019.Affirm Inc. completed its acquisition of PayBright, a buy now, pay later provider in Canada.PayPal Holdings Inc. announced a check cashing feature for select Venmo app users. This enables them to have funds …

WinCo Foods, a grocery chain with 129 stores in the Western United States, has launched a gift card program from Blackhawk Network.Buy now, pay later service Zip announced an offer of 3% cash back on purchases on its service during the Christmas season through Jan. 8. Zip recently launched Tap & Zip, which …

The Hale & Hearty Soups fast-casual chain of 20 locations in Boston and the New York City area has chosen Appetize Technologies Inc. to upgrade its point-of-sale operations. The deployment is expected to conclude next month.With consumers worldwide reluctant to travel by air because of fears of catching Covid-19, some 78% of …

The global contactless payment market is forecasted to reach $4.6 trillion by 2027, up 338% from $1.05 trillion in 2019, said Precedence Research. The market is predicted to have a compound annual growth rate of 20.01% from 2020 to 2027.Concord Acquisition Corp., which has been formed to acquire or otherwise combine with payments and …

With merchant demand for contactless payments rising fast in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Verizon Communications Inc. announced Thursday its Verizon Business unit will begin offering Fiserv Inc.’s Clover Flex mobile point-of-sale device to its business customers. The deal gives Verizon clients access to Fiserv’s merchant services for online, mobile, …