Walmart is to begin accepting Alipay mobile payments at 25 stores in Shenzhen, China, and the service is to go live in all of the chain’s 410 stores across 160 Chinese cities by the end of this year... More
Barcode
Video shows Samsung Pay in action
A short video published by MasterCard shows Samsung’s new Samsung Pay mobile payment service in action, demonstrating how a user chooses a payment card, authenticates and then holds their phone next to a standard payment terminal to conduct a transaction... More
MassDOT tests mobile tickets
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has begun a pilot test of BusPlus, a mobile ticketing service developed by Bytemark that provides customers of intercity private bus operators the ability to purchase and store transit passes on their mobile devices... More
Calorie counting app uses Bluetooth beacons in fridges to help users lose weight
Carrot, a suite of mobile apps designed to push users into better behaviours, has added a calorie-counting app that works in conjunction with a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon placed inside a fridge to help users lose weight, by keeping track of their daily calorie intake and punishing them for overeating... More
Mobile barcode scanning booms
Consumers scanned more than 4.5m barcodes with Scandit-powered mobile shopping apps this Black Friday, the company has revealed, “with some US-based apps experiencing as much as 40 times increase over last year”... More
Alipay offers transport passes
Alipay is making it possible for Chinese tourists to purchase transport passes for Singapore, Thailand and Macau ahead of travel and then collect them by scanning a barcode on their mobile phones at booths and kiosks at their destination... More
Starbucks to accept Microsoft Band wearable payments
Starbucks is to begin accepting payments from customers wearing the new Microsoft Band smart bracelet... More
Beep’nGo hits 5m downloads
Mobeam’s mobile coupon and offer app Beep’nGo has now surpassed five million downloads to compatible Android devices... More
One Stop gives mobile vouchers
UK convenience store chain One Stop is introducing Eagle Eye’s AIR technology in all of its 700-plus stores to issue real-time, personalised offers to customers via SMS and email that can be redeemed in-store on a mobile device... More
Amazon releases mobile wallet app for Android
Amazon Wallet, an Android app that lets users store gift cards and loyalty cards on their mobile phone, is now available to download from Google Play and the Amazon Appstore... More
Four in ten mobile wallet users choose mobile as primary mode of payment
While convincing consumers to make use of a mobile wallet remains an issue for many providers, shoppers that do convert to mobile payments make extensive use of the technology, Nielsen’s Q2 2014 Mobile Wallet Report has found... More
Boots delivers personalised offers to shoppers via new mobile app
UK pharmacy and retail chain Boots has launched a new mobile app that tailors offers to a customer’s shopping habits... More
Tim Hortons adds voice to payments app
Canada-based coffee chain Tim Hortons has opened up its mobile payments service to WP8 phone users... More
Amazon unveils smartphone that lets users shop the world around them
Amazon has launched Fire, a smartphone that includes 3D “dynamic perspective” technology and a dedicated Firefly button that lets users recognize — and buy from Amazon — physical products, movies and music that they come across as they shop, browse and socialize... More
NICE rolls out Masabi mobile ticketing and payments in Nassau County
Veolia Transportation is rolling out a mobile ticketing and payment service on the NICE bus and paratransit system in New York’s Nassau County, in partnership with mobile ticketing and payment provider Masabi... More
French retailer uses PowaTag to create 10,000 virtual shops, major UK chains to follow
French fashion retailer Comptoir des Cotonniers is using a platform developed by Powa Technologies to turn posters, billboards, magazines, cafe table tops, postcards, flyers and clothing into ‘virtual boutiques’ that let consumers order and pay for goods with their mobile phone... More
Tim Hortons rolls out mobile barcode payments across Canada and USA
Canada-based coffee chain Tim Hortons has expanded its mobile payments service, first launched using host card emulation (HCE) technology in December 2013, with the introduction of barcode-based mobile payments across its outlets in the USA and Canada... More
Vodafone adds support for barcode loyalty and membership cards to NFC wallet
Mobile network operator Vodafone is expanding the functionality of its mobile wallet beyond NFC with a deal to add Austria-based Bluesource’s Mobile-Pocket technology to the service, enabling customers to store hundreds of loyalty, membership, transit and promotional cards in their Vodafone wallet by simply scanning them in using the camera on their smartphone. More
Duane Reade installs Bluetooth beacons in ten New York stores
New York-based drugstore chain Duane Reade has upgraded its iPhone app to include support for iBeacons and ten of its 240 New York stores have been equipped with Bluetooth LE beacons in a bid to “foster greater customer engagement.”... More
Waitrose tests iBeacons
Upmarket UK supermarket chain Waitrose is working on a new app that will use Bluetooth LE beacons to welcome customers to its stores and push promotional messages to shoppers... More