Near-Field Communication (NFC)

• Groupon Inc. sold its Breadcrumb restaurant point-of-sale unit to Upserve Inc., a startup focusing on restaurant-management solutions. Terms were not disclosed, but Groupon will take an equity interest in Upserve, formerly known as Swipely Inc. Founded in 2011, Breadcrumb was acquired by Groupon in 2012. • Apple Inc.’s Apple …

MasterCard Inc. expects the first wearable payment devices for use on its network to be available later this year, Sherri Haymond, senior vice president for digital payments for MasterCard, tells Digital Transactions News. The devices are part of MasterCard’s Commerce for Every Device Program, which is intended to add payment …

Universal mobile wallets have yet to gain the hearty embrace of merchants and consumers, unlike those serving a solitary merchant. But that will change, forecasts the “Merchant Mobile Wallets: Mobile Payments in Action” report released Wednesday by Mercator Advisory Group Inc. The report from the Maynard, Mass.-based payments consultancy predicts …

When it comes to mobile-payments services like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, the payments industry appears to be seeing adoption. But it could be years before it sees steady usage. The adoption picture, as defined by cardholders loading a card, is improving for Apple Pay, according to the latest numbers …

In another indication of the rebound of near-field communication for payments, some 148 million consumers globally will use the contactless technology in a mobile or wearable device to buy something this year, according to the latest report from Juniper Research, released Monday. Fully 70% of these consumers will be wielding …

Of the challenges presented by the U.S. payments systems’ transition to the EMV chip card standard, one of the least reported is confusion among both consumers and merchants  caused by the sudden appearance of puzzling terminal messages. Meanwhile, new numbers indicate petroleum marketers face a daunting challenge meeting their October …

While the U.S. market wrestles with its nearly 6-month-long transition to EMV chip cards and contactless payments based on near-field communication (NFC) technology, the rest of the world is surging ahead with contactless, online, and mobile transactions, according to the latest report from Juniper Research. Total digital payments worldwide will …

The prospect of leaving the house with just a smart phone in lieu of a wallet full of cash and payment cards is 14 years away, according to a survey released Thursday by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a technology association based in New York City. By …

• In-store mobile payments made with wallets enabled with near-field communication will total nearly $240 billion worldwide by 2021 as mobile-wallet competition intensifies and the contactless-payment infrastructure matures, predicts researcher Strategy Analytics. • Closed-loop gift card provider SVM LP acquired 1to1 Card, a prepaid card management-services firm for incentive, loyalty and …

• On Track Innovations Ltd. launched its “My Chip Buddy” marketing effort to support the company’s newly introduced PayEnable platform, which allows manufacturers and designers to build payments capability into their products using near-field communication (NFC) technology. • Grocer The Kroger Co. says chargebacks related to its EMV rollout contributed …