By John Stewart After a three-year gestation period, the Merchant Customer Exchange’s CurrentC mobile-payment service is planning to launch a pilot in Columbus, Ohio, during the last week of August, a source with knowledge of the matter tells Digital Transactions News. The pilot will involve locations belonging to a handful …

Nine months after its launch, Apple Pay appears to be steadily establishing itself as an everyday service for consumers wielding iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smart phones. These users are increasing the frequency of their Apple Pay transactions as more consumers adopt the Apple Inc. device. That’s the summary of …

  Only 42% of consumers would consider or have already bought wearable technology. That’s one result from a Bank of America Corp. survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults. Wearables garner much attention because of their mobile-payments capabilities. These devices—mostly watches—enable consumers to make mobile payments without using a smart …

The annual MidWest Acquirers Conference concluded Thursday in Chicago with a series of sessions addressing several hot-button payments issues. Here’s a rundown of the more salient remarks: —Whither the independent sales organization? With the fundamentals of the acquiring business rapidly turning towards mobile and cloud-based technology, ISOs are finding themselves …

Mobile peer-to-peer transfer has led to ubiquitous, real-time payment in a social context. But can anyone make any money in this business? Nobody can say for sure when the first electronic person-to-person payment took place, but payments historians are pretty sure they can pinpoint the first official P2P transfer using …

There’s something off about the Apple Watch, especially when it comes to Apple Pay. It’s a bit of a hassle to set up. Let me explain. When I got the watch the other day, the feature I first wanted to activate was Apple Pay, the contactless payment service Apple Inc. …

The Gimlet Eye Last month, in a little essay called “So, Where’s the User?” we asked a question that’s often overlooked in all the sound and fury over mobile payments: Will the consumer ever show up in appreciable numbers to use a mobile device for payment, particularly at the physical …

Getting mobile payments to click with merchants and consumers will require new models for digital marketing. And doing it right will take lots of money and time. (Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a two-part examination of the current landscape for mobile payments. Part One, which sized up …

With Google Inc.’s announcement of Android Pay Thursday, the first major direct rival to Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay came into focus. While other Apple Pay competitors are already in the market or soon will be—handset giant Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and the retailer-controlled Merchant Customer Exchange LLC are expected to …

By John Stewart Few tactics lend instant credibility like adding heavy-hitter names to a company’s board. On Wednesday, the 5-year-old Bitcoin digital currency, and at least one startup offering Bitcoin wallets, gained a few notches on the credibility index when Xapo GmbH said Dee Hock, John Reed, and Lawrence Summers …