PayPal (Sort of) Embraces NFC …   With rivals like Google Inc., Visa Inc., and Master­Card Inc. having jumped into near-field communication technology, there has been no little speculation in the payments business about when, or whether, PayPal Inc. would take the plunge.   Wonder no more. The eBay …

n By Jane Adler   Retailers and consumers are shifting from plastic to virtual gift cards, drawn by instant availability and ease of distribution. Is the tangible gift card on its way out?       With holiday sales in their sights, retailers are expanding their gift card offerings with …

  By Karen Epper Hoffman   Next year may be the year of NFC. Then again, it may not be. In the meantime, a slew of startups have some alternatives to think about. Ever hear of Starbucks?       Near-field communication technology (NFC) may have taken a few strides …

  Startups and established companies alike are betting that consumers obsessed with daily deals could jump-start mobile payments. But it may take a while for that bet to pay off.   By Jane Adler       Rewards redemption with a mobile device at the point of sale isn’t a …

  Keeping a Wary Eye on the Networks   Forget about Google and PayPal. Merchant acquirers are more worried about competitive threats from their long-time spouses by forced marriage, the payment card networks.   That intelligence comes from an Aite Group LLC survey of 20 industry executives, including 17 chief …

  Peter Lucas   Keeping up with change in electronic payments is hard, but essential, work for community banks. Here’s how they’re doing it.   Every time a huge bank—Bank of America Corp., JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co., for example—makes a splash in payments, as …

  Linda Punch   A product of its acquired Revolution Money program, Serve is American Express Co.’s entrant into the increasingly competitive mobile, online, and person-to-person payments market. Will it deliver?   When an industry heavyweight like American Express Co. throws its hat into the digital-payments ring, people sit up …

  Slow acceptance among merchants and consumers appears to be the underlying cause for Bling Nation’s decision to suspend operation of its PayConnect and FanConnect mobile services. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bling said earlier this week that it is pausing operations to retool its services in response to feedback from merchants …

Google Inc.’s entry in mobile payments and marketing, which the online search titan unveiled last Thursday, swept many observers off their feet with its comprehensive roundup of key players but also left a number of crucial questions unanswered. Experts agree, though, that the uncertainty swirling around these questions only underscores …

With the traditional lines between e-commerce and the point of sale blurring, a Boston-based startup on Tuesday introduced a mobile wallet that lets consumers shop at multiple stores, both brick-and-mortar and online, and skip past checkout lines. AisleBuyer LLC’s app, which works on iPhones and handsets running Google Inc.’s Android …