News

January, 2009

• 8 January

  How the End of E-Commerce As We Know It Spawns Opportunity

  This is the second installment of a six-part series on how Web 2.0 developments are likely to transform the payments business. Web 2.0 is still in its infancy, and skeptics about its business models abound. Meanwhile, most online merchants are still scrambling to shore up and extend their current Web …
• 8 January

  With Breaches Rising, Insurer Offers Card-Compromise Coverage

  Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. this week unveiled what it says is the first coverage available to small and medium-sized businesses for losses from payment card data breaches. News of the policy came on the same day that a non-profit research organization reported that data breaches increased 47% last year. The …
• 8 January

  Behind Wausau’s Plans to Recruit ISOs to Sell Remote Deposit Capture

  Independent sales organizations are in the cross hairs of at least one vendor of check-transaction processing software looking for ways to sign up more merchants for a product that lets businesses turn paper checks into images they can transmit electronically to their banks. Wausau Financial Systems Inc. this spring will …
• 7 January

  ISO YapStone Enters Utility Payments with Paymerica Acquisition

  At a time when many independent sales organizations are struggling to keep transaction volumes up as consumers reduce discretionary retail and restaurant spending, YapStone Inc. is further entrenching itself in a stable and high-growth revenue niche, recurring payments, through its Dec. 31 acquisition of the assets of Paymerica LLC. Jacksonville, …
• 5 January

  MasterCard’s $100 Million Orbiscom Deal Points to New Markets

  In a deal that could better position MasterCard Inc. as a provider of transaction services for mobile and online commerce, the Purchase, N.Y.-based card network announced on Monday it is buying Orbiscom Ltd., a Dublin-based software company, for $100 million. MasterCard, which has been working with Orbiscom for the past …
• 5 January

  Though It Has a Small Share, the iPhone Rings Up Payments Innovation

  Apple Inc.'s iPhone accounts for only a tiny fraction of the cell phones out there, but it's the undisputed headline grabber in the niche of mobile devices called smart phones that enable enhanced Web browsing, play music, and perform other gee-whiz functions. The iPhone also is the focus of intense …
• 1 January

  How the Onset of Web 2.0 Puts E-Commerce up for Grabs

  This article kicks off a six-part series by electronic-payments researcher and consultant Steve Mott that explores how the next generation of e-commerce will be defined by the Web 2.0 phenomenon, leading to dramatic changes in the transactional environment. The final installment of the series will appear in the February issue …

December, 2008

• 31 December

  Bill Me Later Not Likely to Suffer from Its Ouster from Amazon

  Not surprisingly, Amazon.com Inc. disclosed this week that it would no longer accept Bill Me Later Inc., the fast-growing online credit system now owned by Amazon archrival eBay Inc. But at least one analyst expects the damage to Bill Me Later will be minimal despite the loss of access to …
• 31 December

  Facebook Balks, But Expect Social Networks to Launch Payments

  Don't look for Facebook to get into the payments business any time soon. According to a report this week in “Inside Facebook,” a Web site that tracks Facebook developments for software developers and marketers, the social network has put on hold a payments platform that the network had announced a …
• 29 December

  Fraudsters Run One-Stop Shop Online to Sell Data-Stealing Code

  Fraudsters are running an online trading post for highly sophisticated code that allows criminals to more easily steal consumers' log-on credentials, Social Security Numbers, PINs, and other confidential information, according to the latest report from RSA Security Inc.'s Anti-Fraud Command Center. The fraudster Web site, which RSA analysts call a …