Executives who are counting on loyalty applications to help justify new transaction technologies like smart cards and radio-frequency ID devices may have to reconsider their strategies in light of recent developments, according to an expert in electronic loyalty programs. Speaking at Thomson Media's CardTech SecurTech conference and exhibition this week …

Target Corp.'s decision several weeks ago to discontinue its chip-based electronic loyalty program has confirmed for Visa USA that U.S. consumers are not likely to embrace new transaction technologies any time soon, whether tied to loyalty programs or not. Indeed, for the foreseeable future, the bank card network is shifting …

With its acquisition of CellCards of Illinois LLC, Bellevue, Wash.-based Coinstar Inc. is making a play that takes advantage of two key trends in the electronic transactions market: rising sales of prepaid value products and the increasing importance of the so-called unbanked consumer market. With a network of some 11,000 …

Target Corp., which has opened more than 9 million accounts for its cobranded Visa smart card since the program's launch in November 2001, has announced it is shutting down the chip function on the card owing to lack of use. Target said in a statement today the phase-out will begin …

Already the second-largest deployer of electronic ticketing machines at airports, Continental Airlines Inc. plans to add another 150 units this year, including some at international destinations. The first airline to deploy self-service ticketing kiosks nine years ago, Continental now has 779 online at 130 domestic airports, trailing only Delta Air …

Continental Airlines has announced it has now installed ticketing kiosks in all domestic airports served by its planes. With a machine going online Dec. 31 at the airport in Reno, Nev., the airline's network of machines now numbers 779 across 130 U.S. airports. Continental says self-service check-in has become the …

Hold the requiem for cash. It's still flexing its muscles as a payment vehicle, as witness the deal announced today by Western Union Financial Services Inc. and Continental Airlines. Starting now, customers who book seats on the airline's Web site can pay by cash at any of 45,000 Western Union …

The extent to which air travelers are adopting electronic ticketing kiosks has been demonstrated in dramatic fashion by some numbers recently released by Northwest Airlines Inc., which was the first major airline to deploy the technology. Some two-thirds of the Minneapolis-based carrier's passengers used the kiosks in October, up from …

A system that allows card payments to be made at vending machines, laundry machines, kiosks, and unattended business centers is expected to expand rapidly now that the technology provider has partnered with two wireless service providers. Malvern, Pa.-based USA Technologies, which specializes in card-accepting technology for the hospitality industry and …

McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, has installed and switched on the nation's first ticketing kiosks serving multiple airlines. The airport's initial installation, which cost it about $2 million in hardware and software, includes more than 30 self-service machines at the airport itself and another six hooked up at the Las …