Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
With the popularity of digital content on the rise, processors are starting to see opportunity in a business that seemed moribund only a few years ago?handling transactions that average roughly $5 or less. The latest entrant, or, more properly, entrant-to-be, in this business is Google Inc., which is working on …
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Nokia’s Mobile-Payments Gambit Could Give a Boost to Obopay
The announcement on Wednesday by Nokia, the world's largest cell-phone maker, that it will launch a mobile-payments service is likely to give a competitive leg-up to Obopay Inc., the Redwood City, Calif.-based mobile-payments processor that developed the software for the new venture, called Nokia Money. Four-year-old Obopay, in which Nokia …
Read More »With Walk-in Bill Pay, Wal-Mart Adds More Payments Muscle
It's now official: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has become a major distributor of walk-in electronic bill-payment services. Processor Fiserv Inc. announced that 3,755 U.S. Wal-Mart locations now offer standard and next-day bill payments from Fiserv's CheckFreePay service. The service enables customers to pay 2,500 utility, credit card, phone, insurance, and other …
Read More »An All-Handset Payments App Edges PayPal Closer to the Point of Sale
An application officially announced this week extends to virtually any cell phone the capability of accepting credit cards, a function that up to now mobile merchants have found mostly restricted to so-called smart phones like the iPhone or BlackBerry. The wCharge Credit Card Terminal, quietly introduced early this year by …
Read More »How the Recession Could Push up Fees for Expedited Bill Payments
The severity and length of the recession makes it likely banks will be able to raise fees for last-minute online bill payments, recent research says. That will mean more revenue for financial institutions that have been seeking ways to make money from electronic bill payments, a service they've generally been …
Read More »Zong’s Growth Heats up Rivalry in Mobile Payments for Downloads
If mobile-payments services are finding a niche anywhere right now, it appears to be in the market for digital goods like games and social-network applications. Palo Alto, Calf.-based Zong Inc., which began operations last year, announced this week that the processing platform it shares with its parent company, Echovox Inc., …
Read More »Home Depot Opens the Door to Big-Box Contactless Payments
MasterCard Inc.'s announcement on Monday that The Home Depot Inc. would accept the MasterCard PayPass contactless card at 1,974 U.S. locations, along with last week's news that sporting-goods chain The Sports Authority also would take PayPass, indicate that the card network is looking beyond the original base of cash-oriented merchants …
Read More »Microsoft Is Among the First to Try out PayPal’s New Payments API
Microsoft Inc. is among three developers that have integrated PayPal Inc.'s new application programming interfaces into applications as part of a beta program, PayPal announced on Thursday. PayPal formally opened its payment platform to third-party platform developers at a conference for developers. By opening up the platform program?called PayPal X?PayPal …
Read More »Interac Connects With Contactless Debit Payments
Canada's Interac Association debit network is teaming with France-based semiconductor manufacturer Inside Contactless in a partnership that will include a test next year that will pair PIN-based debit cards with contactless payments. But to keep transactions moving quickly, cardholders will not need to enter a PIN. The test will be …
Read More »PayPal Denies Adaptive Payments API Is a Ploy to ‘Crush’ Amazon FPS
PayPal Inc. is planning to launch a flexible-payments application programming interface that will allow merchants and others to build their own payment systems, but the company denies that the Adaptive Payments API is a response to Amazon.com Inc.'s Flexible Payments Service, which has been available as a commercial product for …
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