Chinese internet giant Alibaba has unveiled a new “internet car” that will let drivers make mobile payments from their seat using affiliate company Ant Financial’s Alipay mobile payment platform. More
PARTNER NEWS: Mobile financial solutions firm Mahindra Comviva has released an updated version of Mobiquity Wallet, a digital wallet platform that launched in March 2014 with support for QR codes, Bluetooth, NFC and host card emulation (HCE). More
Apple Pay has begun rolling out across France with support from both Mastercard and Visa as well as Banque Populaire, Ticket Restaurant, Carrefour Banque and Caisse d’Epargne. Support from mobile network operators Boon and Orange France is also expected “soon”. More
Brazilian consumers can now sign up to mobile and online only bank Neon by taking a selfie with their mobile phone... More
US consumers will soon be able to withdraw cash from 70,000 ATMs belonging to Payment Alliance International (PAI) using their mobile phones through banking and payment technologies provider FIS’ Cardless Cash ATM functionality... More
Mastercard has unveiled an enhanced version of its Masterpass digital payment platform, adding in-store NFC mobile payment capability to the service that has so far only been available for online and in-app payments. More
UK-based mobile payment and rewards platform Droplet is to be discontinued... More
More than two thirds (68%) of European consumers want to use biometrics as a method of payment authentication, research from Visa reveals, and 73% see two-factor authentication as a secure way to confirm an account holder’s identity. More
Google has begun rolling out its Android Pay mobile payment service in Australia with support from American Express and Visa. The service will be available from 27 banks and credit unions at launch and from an additional seven financial institutions “soon”. MasterCard support is expected “in a few days”. More
Customers at Starbucks stores in China will now be able to pay for their order using their mobile phone and the coffee giant’s QR code-based mobile payment service which has now been launched in 2,200 locations across the country. More
US pharmacy chain CVS is testing support for Apple Pay and is “evaluating” mobile payment options, according to AppleInsider... More
Samsung Pay has gone live in Puerto Rico with support from Banco Popular, the country’s largest bank. The service is supported by MasterCard and Visa and is available from mobile network operators AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Claro. More
Employees at NEC Corporation’s head office in Tokyo are trialling the use of facial recognition to authenticate purchases made in small shops inside the building. The trial began in June 2016 and will run until August as part of NEC’s efforts to “apply its biometrics authentication technologies to a range of services including cashless payment”. More
Apple Pay captures the greatest proportion of eligible users in the US with 33%, followed by Samsung Pay with 23%, research released by Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG) reveals. However, Samsung Pay users report higher satisfaction levels and fewer issues at the point of sale compared to Apple Pay users, with near equal proportions recommending both mobile payment services. More
Swedish consumers can now make NFC mobile payments using Seamless’ Seqr mobile payment platform... More
ING and Belgian bank KBC are to launch a mobile payment and loyalty platform in Belgium that will combine ING’s Payconiq mobile payment app with loyalty platforms Qustomer and CityLife in a single service. More
Customers who pay using NFC mobile payments are more likely to leave a tip, according to a survey by mobile POS provider Square. 73% of customers tipped when using NFC mobile payments compared to 71% who tipped using EMV and 67% who paid using magnetic stripe cards at the point of sale. More
PARTNER NEWS: Digital payment solutions provider Proxama is to supply transaction automation solutions provider Printec Group with its NFC mobile payment, PIN management, tokenization and EMV enablement solutions across Central and South-Eastern Europe. More
US supermarket giant Walmart has completed its nationwide rollout of Walmart Pay, making the service available in more than 4,600 stores across the country. The retailer has also recorded a 45% increase in Walmart Pay transactions in the last week. More
Apple Pay has begun rolling out across Switzerland, allowing consumers to make in-store and in-app payments using their compatible devices. The mobile payment service launches with support from MasterCard and Visa as well as card issuers Bonus Card, Cornercard and Swiss Bankers. More