2,500 US banks and credit unions will soon be able to add an “additional potential revenue source” by sending out branded, local offers to users of their mobile banking apps... More
Mobile payments platform provider Mozido has acquired Chinese cross-border payment gateway provider PayEase with the aim of introducing its mobile payments and retail marketing solutions into the Chinese market... More
McDonald’s restaurants across the US are adding a new payment method for a two-week promotion, letting customers pay for their orders with “random acts of loving” such as giving out high fives and hugs, taking selfies, calling family members, dancing and blowing kisses... More
UK-based mobile marketing and NFC pioneer Proxama has announced a round of redundancies at its Norwich headquarters with up to 21 people believed to be at risk of losing their jobs... More
Starbucks is now processing an average of seven million mobile payments a week, representing around 16% of all its transactions, CEO Howard Schultz has revealed during a first quarter earnings call in which he also provided an update on the Mobile Order and Pay service the coffee giant introduced in Portland, Oregon in December last year... More
The largest producer of confectionery in Latvia has installed Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons in its stores in the capital Riga to send information directly to a customer’s smartphone in the default language of their device... More
US grocery chain Marsh Supermarkets is to use Bluetooth beacons to deliver targeted information such as shopping lists and recipes directly to a shopper’s Apple Watch or smartphone, marking the “world’s first iBeacon-wearable integration at retail”... More
CardMobili has added support for Bluetooth beacon-based marketing services to its digital wallet platform... More
Music recognition app Shazam has partnered with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) specialist Gimbal to add support for Bluetooth beacons to its platform... More
Fifty merchants in the German city of Hannover have signed up to accept Bitcoin payments using a terminal supplied by startup Pey, that uses a combination of iBeacon, QR code and NFC technology. More
Glasgow City Council-owned bus shelters around the Scottish city will be fitted with NFC tags and QR codes to allow people to engage with advertisers by accessing interactive content such as vouchers, games and videos using their smartphones... More
Apple Pay could be available in Canada within the next two months and the company is already in talks with partners to launch the mobile payment service in the country, 9to5mac reports... More
Car maker BMW has embedded NFC tags in a four-page advertisement for its i3 and i8 models in German magazine Spiegel Wissen... More
Cloud-based mobile payments platform provider Mozido has acquired the majority ownership of mobile commerce specialist CorFire, previously wholly-owned by South Korean IT services provider SK C&C... More
Starbucks is to use Bluetooth beacon technology in the first of its new Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room locations in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood of Seattle in the coming year... More
Mobile messaging provider Outspoken has added support for Google Wallet to its digital wallet delivery solution, enabling marketers to distribute offers to a user’s mobile wallet via a text message... More
Office Depot has become the first retail chain to roll out Shazam In-Store, a mobile marketing platform that makes use of the Shazam music discovery app, inaudible digital watermarks, a merchant’s overhead music system and a location-based platform developed by Mood Media to send promotional messages to shoppers’ mobile phones... More
UK startup Quikkly has unveiled an alternative to QR codes that aims to provide an improved user experience and increased consumer uptake. “QR codes are great for machines, but they weren’t designed for people,” Quikkly says. “We’ve designed Quikkly Tags to be understandable by everyone. It’s clear what app to use and it’s clear what will happen when you scan the tag.” More
Mobile marketing and advertising platform BeaconStream is to pilot iBeacon technology in malls in Bengaluru and Chennai, India, within the next three weeks, The Hindu reports... More
Six in ten (60%) shoppers who receive a beacon-triggered message while shopping in a store open and engage with the content and 30% redeem beacon-triggered offers at the point of sale, analysis by Bluetooth beacon offers platform Swirl has found... More