News

November, 2014

• 11 November

  Smart Phone and Tablet Users Use Weak Security Measures: Report

    Consumers using smart phones and tablets based on Android, iOS and Windows Mobile operating systems tend to have lax security measures in place, finds a report commissioned by authentication vendor Nok Nok Labs. Google Inc. developed Android. Apple Inc. created iOS for its mobile devices, and Microsoft Corp. owns Windows …
• 11 November

  For the First Time, Consumer Use of Mobile To Buy Physical Goods Exceeds 50%, Report Says

    In the past 12 months, 51% of consumers purchased a physical good using a mobile phone, the highest percentage in five years, potentially signaling a greater propensity for consumer adoption of mobile wallets, according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research. That is up from 45% in …
• 11 November

  With 65,000 Tabletop Tablets Deployed Overall, Ziosk Begins Placing Its Devices at Smokey Bones

  Tablet-based point-of-sale technology is moving apace in restaurants. Ziosk LLC, which installs tabletop tablets in eateries, announced this week Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill will install its system in all 65 of its U.S. locations. The rollout is expected to wind up by the end of February. Dallas-based Ziosk, which …
• 11 November

  Revel Systems Lines Up $90 Million To Fuel Growth

    Tablet-based point-of-sale company Revel Systems says it has secured $90 million in Series C financing, a windfall it will use to keep up with growth for its iPad-based POS systems, the company announced Tuesday. Private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, which has long invested in payments companies, …
• 11 November

  Launched in May, Square Capital Has Advanced $75 Million to 15,000 Square Sellers

  Square Inc.’s 6-month-old cash-advance product, Square Capital, has distributed $75 million to some 15,000 small businesses, the San Francisco-based payments company announced via Twitter this week. Further, merchants that have accepted the advances have processed in excess of $1 billion in sales through Square, the company said. It also pointed …
• 10 November

  Shipping Costs Deter Online Buyers the Most, While Social Nets, Apps, Not Big Factors

  Surprise shipping costs are the leading cause of shopping-cart abandonment. Meanwhile, shopping apps are popular, but not used as much as you might think. And while social networks have grown in popularity every year, they have a surprisingly small influence on e-commerce buying decisions. n Asked what factors cause them …
• 10 November

  Visa Enhanced PCI Compliance Push Slated For Jan. 1 Start

  n Card network Visa Inc. plans to eke out even better merchant compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard with a new enforcement plan targeting the largest merchants. The program is scheduled for a Jan. 1 start. That’s according to a copy of an Oct. 21 Visa Bulletin …
• 10 November

  Eye on M&A: JetPay Buys ACI Merchant Systems; Heartland Completes Xpient Acquisition

  Payment processor JetPay Corp. on Monday reported that it had acquired ACI Merchant Systems LLC, an independent sales organization that works through financial institutions to provide credit and debit card processing to their small and mid-sized business customers. Meanwhile, the big merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. recently bought Xpient …
• 10 November

  Report: Booming E-Commerce Will Make CNP Fraud Soar, Not Conversion to EMV

  With a critical deadline coming up in less than a year, it has become a common observation about the U.S. conversion to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip card standard that transaction fraud prevented by EMV will simply move into e-commerce channels. Now, a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research argues …
• 7 November

  Giant Eagle Reverses Spiraling Transaction Costs With Durbin-Assisted Rate Arbitrage

  The Durbin Amendment may be best known for its stringent ceiling on debit card interchange, but merchants are discovering that another part of the law that requires transaction-routing choices can be just as effective as rate caps in controlling processing costs. Giant Eagle Inc., a Pittsburgh-based supermarket chain operating nearly …