Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
LoopPay Inc., the mobile payments company that relies on magnetic fields to connect devices to point-of-sale terminals, has a new owner: Samsung Electronics America Inc. The deal, announced in an email to LoopPay users, all but confirms that smart-phone maker Samsung has plans to launch what has been a much-rumored …
February, 2015
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17 February
Merchants Worldwide Are Installing More Contactless Terminals—And Turning on NFC
With technologies like Apple Pay and host card emulation reviving prospects for mobile payments using near-field communication, merchants are starting to install more NFC devices at the point of sale. And, more important, they’re starting to turn on the NFC capability. That’s according to a report issued Tuesday by Berg …
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16 February
COMMENTARY: EMV, End of E-Commerce, IPOs Will Reshape Payments This Year
In the far future, when someone sits down and writes the definitive history of payments (riveting), 2014 is going to be a big year. Bitcoin reached historic highs but then went sideways. We had the introduction of Apple Pay, which was a major step forward for mobile wallets. The sheer …
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16 February
With Its Dinerware and pcAmerica Deals, Heartland Lays out a New Direction for Leaf
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. has acquired point-of-sale system developers Dinerware Inc. and pcAmerica, both makers of restaurant point-of-sale systems, Heartland announced Friday. Terms were not disclosed. The acquisitions spurred Princeton, N.J.-based Heartland to create a dedicated business unit call Heartland Commerce, which includes Dinerware, pcAmercia, Xpient, Leaf, and Liquor POS. …
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16 February
Already on the Way Out, SSL Data Security Could Get the Boot From the PCI Council
The PCI Security Standards Council issued a bulletin Friday saying that no version of the Secure Socket Layers (SSL) protocol for protecting Internet communications meets its definition of strong cryptography. Accordingly, the Council said it will soon revise versions 3.0 of its main Payment Card Security data-security standard and the …
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13 February
Once They Use It, Consumers Favor NFC Over QR Codes, NFC Forum Survey Says
More consumers are satisfied using near-field communications (NFC) technology with their smart phones than express the same satisfaction using Quick Response codes, finds a survey by Strategy Analytics Inc., a Boston-based consulting firm. In the survey, commissioned by NFC advocate group NFC Forum, 76% of consumers said they were satisfied …
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12 February
AmEx Could Take an $82 Billion Charge-Volume Hit With Loss of U.S. Costco Card
American Express Co. on Thursday disclosed that it will not renew its merchant-acceptance and cobranded credit card agreements with Costco Wholesale Corp. The card accounted for about $82 billion of AmEx’s worldwide charge volume last year. The possible loss of the warehouse club’s 16-year AmEx card program had been rumored …
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12 February
When mPOS Goes Awry, Whom Do You Call? Payments Veteran Kahn Hopes It’s Boomtown
Mobile point-of-sale systems have come a long way in a short time, but in one respect they may have grown up too fast. They may have outstripped the ability of merchants and merchant-service providers to provide the kind of constant and consistent support that’s necessary to keep the tablets humming. …
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11 February
Retailers Rank Security As Top Concern, While More Than One-Third Plan to Add NFC
Payments security is the top concern of retailers in 2015, finds a Boston Retail Partners report. This comes as retailers contend with increased scrutiny of their data-protection practices and a sweeping transformation of the U.S. payment card system. In the survey of more than 500 retailers, 63% cited payment security …
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10 February
With Its PayEase Acquisition, Burgeoning Mozido Enters China
Financial and marketing services company Mozido Inc. now is serving China through its acquisition of PayEase Corp., a China-based payment processor. Announced today, the acquisition makes Austin, Texas-based Mozido the owner of one of 22 licensed payment-processing companies in China. PayEase, which is headquarter in Beijing, provides in-app mobile payments, …