Near-Field Communication (NFC)

New mobile-phone capability, coupled with physical stores’ response to the encroachment of e-commerce, will help drive the volume of digital coupons in the next few years, according to a new report. Worldwide redemptions of coupons via mobile phones and online will grow at an average annual rate of 14.1% through …

The holiday shopping season may be coming to a close, but mashups between mobile-wallet providers, merchants, payment card networks, and card issuers are likely to continue indefinitely as all groups seek more transaction volume from consumers. Apple Inc. has been active this holiday season. In one promotion, Apple is offering …

Wider availability of technology that would have been nearly unthinkable only a few years ago is making biometric authentication a more likely replacement for the password. In the latest development, Discover Financial Services on Thursday announced users of its mobile app who own an iPhone X can log in to …

The Chicago Transit Authority, an early proponent of open-loop fare payments, announced Monday that the general-purpose payment feature in some of its fare cards will expire Dec. 31. The operator of the nation’s second-largest transit system says riders did not embrace the idea of a CTA-provided general-purpose prepaid account coupled …

Discover Financial Services could find itself in the catbird’s seat if Apple Inc.’s new Apple Pay Cash person-to-person payment service gains popularity as a way to pay merchants. In addition to its main P2P function, Apple Pay Cash is accepted at any merchant location that accepts Apple’s 3-year-old Apple Pay …

Less than a month after winning the contract to bring contactless fare payments to New York City’s vast subway and bus system, Cubic Transportation Systems won a $575 million contract from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to replace the CharlieCard, a fixture in Boston, with a modernized fare system centered …

Visa Inc. announced Monday that it has created a business unit dedicated to transit payments. The new unit debuts as public transportation agencies worldwide move away from cash and proprietary magnetic-stripe fare cards and begin accepting mobile wallets and contactless general-purpose credit and debit cards. Dubbed Visa Global Transit Solutions, …

Consumers’ fondness for using their mobile devices is going to affect mobile ticketing in a big way by 2020, says Juniper Research in its “Mobile & Online Ticketing: Transport, Events & NFC 2017-2020” report released this week. In it, United Kingdom-based Juniper forecasts that by 2020 the number of digital …

Square Inc., which debuted more than seven years ago pursuing micromerchants with a free card reader, launched Square Register, a $999 point-of-sale system designed for larger merchants, it announced Monday. Square Register is a full-sized POS device that has merchant-facing and consumer-facing screens. Also available at $49 a month for …

Consumer use of mobile payments has taken a step back, according to new research from Auriemma Consulting Group. The New York City-based firm found that mobile-payments usage is down 5 percentage points to 25% of consumers surveyed from 30% a year ago. And that decline is expected to continue into …