Indian consumers can now submit prescriptions, buy medicines, find doctors and book appointments through online pharmacy Easymedico using First Global Data subsidiary Msewa’s VPayQwik mobile wallet... More
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Mercedes Pay mobile payments unveiled for Daimler mobility services
Customers of Daimler’s mobility services will soon be able to use a dedicated Mercedes Pay mobile payments platform, allowing them to “easily and securely pay for mobility offerings and services using their smartphones”, the German automotive giant has announced... More
Boon launches in France for Apple Pay users
France has become the first eurozone country in which consumers with iOS devices can use Wirecard’s Boon service to make purchases with Apple Pay, by adding a virtual Boon card to the mobile payment service... More
Mobile marketplace offers African farmers promise of richer, cashless harvest
Thousands of small-scale farmers across East Africa will soon be using their feature phones to buy, sell and receive payments for their goods through a mobile app and SMS service developed by Mastercard... More
One in 10 UK consumers have used mobile payments, survey reveals
More than one in 10 (11%) of UK consumers have made an in-store mobile payment and do so occasionally, with 2% doing so “wherever possible”, research from price comparison service uSwitch reveals... More
US bank to upgrade all ATMs for mobile withdrawals
US bank Wells Fargo expects to be the first bank to fully convert all its ATMs to support a mobile withdrawals service, allowing customers to get cash by entering an eight-digit code generated by the bank’s app plus their PIN into the machine, CNN Money reports... More
US consumers to use loyalty points as currency for in-store payments
US consumers will soon be able to purchase goods using loyalty points from multiple programs through Verifone Points Redemption, a new service designed for merchants which connects to third party loyalty programs and alerts shoppers when they have enough points available to complete a payment... More
Secure element security added to web applications
GlobalPlatform has released Web API for Accessing Secure Elements v1.0, a standardised communications interface between web applications and secure elements (SEs) that will enable sensitive data from online applications to be stored and processed in a secure, isolated environment... More
Samsung Pay to get AI assistant?
Samsung is to add a virtual assistant called Bixby to Samsung Pay, a Samsung Pay Beta page seen by Galaxy Club reveals... More
Samsung lets smart fridge owners use voice commands to order groceries
US consumers will soon be able to use their voice to order groceries directly from their fridge with the latest edition of Samsung’s smart connected fridge platform and an updated version of the Groceries by Mastercard mobile app... More
State Bank of India blocks Paytm mobile wallet transfers
State Bank of India has stopped its customers from transferring money into Paytm mobile wallets, instead encouraging them to make use of its own State Bank Buddy service... More
KFC uses facial recognition to offer menu recommendations in China
Fast food chain KFC and Chinese internet giant Baidu have opened a smart restaurant in Beijing’s Financial Street that uses facial recognition to make menu suggestions to new customers based on their gender, age and mood, and recommendations to returning customers based on items they have ordered in the past... More
Malaysia bank launches HCE mobile payments
Customers of Malaysia’s CIMB Bank can make host card emulation (HCE) mobile payments using CIMB Pay — a new service that supports Mastercard and Visa credit and debit cards... More
More US firms offer Apple Pay
US airline United Airlines, domain name provider GoDaddy and donation platform Causemo are among the latest businesses offering Apple Pay, Apple Insider reports... More
Visa and Mastercard tokenization deal will ‘simplify and secure payment experience’
The tokenization agreement signed yesterday by Visa and Mastercard will help to address the “lack of comprehensive tokenization across brands”, a key merchant barrier to adopting the technology, Visa’s VP of digital products Vish Shastry has told NFC World... More
Samsung Pay to come with most Samsung smartphones
All Samsung smartphones except for a handful of low-end models will come with Samsung Pay preinstalled from the start of 2017, an official from the company has told Business Korea... More
Wirecard adds backing to Pay by Bank
German payments technology provider Wirecard has become the latest to announce its support for Pay by Bank, the mobile payments app developed by VocaLink’s Zapp... More
Indian merchants get new digital payments service
Vodafone India has unveiled Vodafone M-Pesa Pay, a digital payment solution allowing merchants to receive payments from customers using their M-Pesa wallet, bank account, or debit or credit card... More
Amex adds card feature for Messenger bot
American Express has unveiled an Add a Card feature to its Amex bot for Messenger, allowing eligible US Consumer and Open card members to add their card and billing information for purchases on Facebook... More
Face recognition adds AR to app experience
Augmented reality start-up Blippar is adding real-time facial recognition technology to its mobile app, Business Insider reports... More