BebaPay, a payment card launched by Google and Equity Bank in Kenya in 2013 that let users pay for their bus fare via NFC, is to be discontinued on March 15... More
Mobile payments
US Federal Government turns to Apple Pay
Apple Pay will be available as a payment option for US Federal Government services from September, CEO Tim Cook has revealed during a White House Summit on cybersecurity and personal privacy... More
Visa sets out tokenization expansion plans
Visa is to expand its Visa Token Service to more regions, to a range of mobile devices and to online transactions made using its Visa Checkout service in 2015, the payments network has announced, “helping to prevent exposure of sensitive consumer account information in online and mobile payments.”... More
Visa adds mobile location checking
Visa has launched Visa Mobile Location Confirmation, a service that works through a participating bank’s mobile banking app to determine whether a payment request is legitimate or not by matching a phone’s location to the location of a payment transaction... More
Starbucks adds Apple Pay to app
Starbucks has updated its iOS app to add support for Apple Pay, making it possible for users to reload their Starbucks cards using Apple’s mobile payments service.“There has been no word on whether Starbucks plans to implement NFC and support for in-store use of Apple Pay,” MacRumors says... More
Google testing new payments service?
Google is testing a service called Plaso “that allows people carrying Android phones to pay at retailers like Papa John’s and Panera Bread by saying their initials to employees at the cash register,” The Information reports, citing “four people who have been involved in or briefed about it.” The pilot has been live since “last fall”... More
India moves to mobile payments
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has published the first draft of a specification that will be used to introduce an electronic payments system that leverages both mobile payments and Aadhaar, India’s biometrics-based ID system... More
USA Technologies reveals secret of success for Apple Pay branding
“Certification work” with Apple was all that was needed to add 200,000 vending and other self-service machines supplied over the last five years to the list of Apple Pay acceptance points, USA Technologies (USAT) has told NFC World+... More
BBVA joins Apple Pay
BBVA Compass cardholders in the US can now add their cards to Apple Pay as the bank has become the latest to join more than 60 banks in supporting the mobile payments service... More
JetBlue to accept Apple Pay
JetBlue Airways is to become the first major US domestic carrier to accept Apple Pay for onboard purchases such as food and drink... More
Mozido buys PayEase
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
Shell UK picks PayPal for mobile payments at the pump
Oil and gas company Shell has partnered with PayPal to roll out mobile payments at the pump across the “vast majority” of its 1,000 service stations in the UK... More
NXP offers pre-validated NFC mPOS module
PARTNER NEWS: An mPOS module that provides developers with “a complete hardware and software reference demonstrator for secure near field communication enabled mobile point of sale solutions” has been developed by NXP in partnership with Creditcall and ViewAt Technology... More
Bluetooth beacons could be just the ticket for UK rail passengers
UK rail passengers could soon have their tickets verified automatically as they walk through fare gates at a station, using a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-enabled mobile ticketing app due to be built by Bytemark... More
Generation Z prefers biometrics to passwords
Three quarters (76%) of the UK’s “Generation Z” consumers — aged between 16 and 24 — say they would feel comfortable making a payment using biometric security, a survey conducted by Opinion Matters for Visa Europe has revealed, and 69% believe it would make their lives faster and easier... More
Contactless payment card shipments grow 35%
Four out of every 10 smart payment cards shipped in 2014 (40%) were contactless, representing a year-on-year growth of 35% with much of the increase driven by Europe and Asia, the Smart Payment Association’s annual review of the card payment market has revealed... More
DCR wins award for HCE prepaid payments service
PARTNER NEWS: DCR’s truTap Mobile Wallet, powered by Carta Worldwide’s host card emulation (HCE) technology, has been named the “Gotta-Have Mobile App” in Paybefore’s annual awards for excellence in the worldwide prepaid, mobile and emerging payments industry... More
NXP CEO: China will be next major NFC payments market
Chip maker NXP will focus on the “significant” Chinese market for mobile wallets, the firm’s CEO has said, as the company revealed a 40% increase in sales for its emerging ID business in a fourth quarter earnings call... More
Swatch to launch NFC smartwatch
Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group is to launch a smartwatch that includes NFC and mobile payments capabilities and works with both Android and Windows phones, CEO Nick Hayek has told Bloomberg... More
Contactless card payments treble in Britain in 2014
Ten contactless transactions took place in the UK every second in 2014, The UK Cards Association has revealed, and total spending on contactless cards more than trebled to reach a record £2.32bn... More