Bi-Lo Holdings, parent company of the Bi-Lo, Harveys and Winn-Dixie grocery store chains, has announced that it now supports Apple Pay in all of its 830 outlets in eight US states... More
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Polish banks join up for launch of Blik mobile payments service
The National Bank of Poland has given the go-ahead for the launch of Blik, a mobile payments service backed by six Polish banks that lets customers make payments in stores and online, withdraw cash from ATMs and send P2P transfers with their mobile phones... More
Post Office offers Tweet-to-donate service
The Post Office has launched Tweet to Donate, a service developed with IMImobile that allows Twitter users to tweet cash donations to the UK’s Children in Need charity... More
Venmo adds TouchID
Users of the Venmo mobile payment app can now sign in with Apple’s TouchID feature on the iPhone 5S, 6 and 6 Plus... More
Japan Airlines tests battery-free beacons at 13 airports
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons that use energy harvesting technology to avoid the need to change batteries have been installed by Japan Airlines (JAL) at 13 major Japanese airports to provide users of its JAL Countdown mobile app with “real-time departure, gate and other timely information”... More
SnapChat adds cash transfers
SnapChat and Square have teamed up to launch Snapcash, a service that builds on Square Cash to let SnapChat users send cash transfers to friends from within the photo messaging app... More
Dongle-free mPOS on its way
Oberthur Technologies (OT) has teamed up with NFC mPOS services provider Mobeewave for Flying mPOS, a solution that will enable NFC devices equipped with Oberthur’s Pearl embedded secure element to be used as a mobile POS terminal — without the need for a separate dongle or other add-on... More
TfL reports 12m contactless payments
More than 12m public transport journeys have been made using contactless payment cards and devices since Transport for London (TfL) launched the service in September, and contactless already represents close to 8% of all pay-as-you-go journeys on the network, TfL says... More
Apple Pay retailers release stats
Apple Pay accounts for 50% of tap-and-pay transactions at McDonald’s, which accepts “all payment products that leverage standard NFC”, according to a New York Times report... More
Keyssa unveils high speed short range ‘kiss’ connectivity technology
Keyssa, a US startup backed by US$47m in funding from investors that include Intel, Samsung and Dolby Family Ventures and chaired by Nest founder Tony Fadell, has unveiled Kiss Connectivity, a solid-state embedded connector that can be used to transfer data between two devices at up to six gigabits per second. More
Softcard adds United MileagePlus cards
United Airlines and Chase are adding support for United MileagePlus credit cards to the Softcard mobile wallet... More
Survey: Contactless adoption requires security proof
Two out of three Americans would consider making mobile or contactless payments more often if they were proven to be secure, a survey of 1,000 US consumers conducted by Kelton Research for Gemalto has found... More
Finnish cafes to test face recognition
A number of cafes in Helsinki, Finland, are to begin testing a payments service developed by Uniqul that uses the geometric proportions of a customer’s face to verify their identity, Yle reports... More
Westpac NZ offers NFC stickers
Westpac New Zealand is to offer customers contactless stickers they can attach to the back of their mobile phone to make NFC payments at more than 15,000 contactless POS terminals across the country... More
Melbourne beacon trial disappoints
Arts Centre Melbourne is rethinking its approach to using Bluetooth beacons after a disappointing pilot that used the technology to send out food and beverage offers to visitors during October’s Melbourne Festival... More
Optus launches NFC payments in Australia
Australian carrier Optus has teamed up with Visa and Heritage Bank to launch an NFC mobile payment service that lets customers load up to A$500 into a prepaid account and then make payments at any Visa contactless POS terminal... More
EcoCash takes mobile money to the point of sale
EcoCash, Africa’s second largest mobile money provider with 3.7m users, is to offer customers in Zimbawe a MasterCard debit card linked to their EcoCash wallet... More
Softcard picks Muppet mascot for online advertising campaign
US carrier mobile payments venture Softcard has unveiled Tappy, a mascot designed by the company behind The Muppets that will be used initially in an online advertising blitz reported to be valued at US$1.5m. More
Visa CEO: We may not charge a fee for tokenization
Visa will not charge a fee to card issuers making use of its tokenization service until at least the end of 2015 and may or may not charge a separate fee for the service in the future, CEO Charles Scharf has revealed at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2014 Banking & Financial Services Conference... More
Brooklyn Nets launch mobile wallet
American Express has partnered with New York basketball team Brooklyn Nets to pilot Brooklyn eWallet, a digital payment solution integrated into the team’s mobile app that lets fans buy food and drink with their mobile phone at any event held at the Barclays Center arena... More