Tags » Banking Industry, Merchants
In two commentary articles yesterday and today, the Motley Fool's Emil Lee has been exploring Wal-Mart's banking plans - its request to form an industrial loan corporation in Utah. In the second article, he challenges the banking industry - most of whom are opposing Wal-Mart's plans - saying that if banks "can't fend off a company that makes its living selling underwear and soap at cheap prices, then perhaps those banks aren't providing customers with enough value."
Tags » Mobile Payments, Near Field Communication (NFC)
The BBC reports on how mobile operators are working to make mobile phones equipped with NFC become smart wallets. "A mobile equipped with NFC technology could, for example, buy a concert ticket over the phone which would then hold those details, together with the details of the phone user, on the tag inside the handset."
Tags » Mobile Payments, Vending Payments
Esther Dyson posts a photo of a fruit juice vending machine in Poland that accepts mobile payments provided by MPay. She describes the process - including how the system responds with an offer for a quick discount on chips from the other vending machine to your left.
Tags » ECommerce Payments, Google Checkout, Internet Retail
Google Checkout has announced that it will be launching a holiday site on Monday, November 27, 2006. According to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by Google Checkout, 40% of employed U.S. adults say they'll be doing at least some of their online holiday shopping from work this year, with 1 in 4 of those shoppers logging on to track down that perfect gift on Monday, November 27. (57% plan to shop during coffee and lunch breaks, while 34% will wait until the end of the workday.)
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Tags » Card Reward Programs
Boston Main Streets, a public-private initiative established by the City of Boston, has announced a new card-based social commerce initiative designed to reward customers and the community when consumers shop at participating local Boston merchants.
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Tags » ATM, Bank Technology, Card Fraud
Bruce Schneier blogs about a recent paper by Omer Berkman and Odelia Moshe Ostrovsky titled "The Unbearable Lightness of PIN Cracking" (PDF) saying "basically, the paper describes an inherent flaw with the way ATM PINs are encrypted and transmitted on the international financial networks, making them vulnerable to attack from malicious insiders in a bank."
Tags » Contactless Payments, US Bank
US Bank has announced that it is beginning a pilot of contactless cards in Denver - saying that "a group of U.S. Bank customers in the Denver area will soon be able to use a new “contactless” feature with their U.S. Bank Visa Credit Cards that allows them to quickly pay for purchases by holding their card in very close proximity to a secure reader at checkout instead of swiping it or handing it to a cashier."
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Tags » Bank of America, Online Banking
According to a new survey conducted by Braun Research and Bank of America, consumers spend an average of four hours and 35 minutes shopping at retail stores during the holiday season. Nearly one-third (one
hour and 22 minutes) of that time is reportedly spent waiting in checkout lines. One way to "lose wait" this year is to shop online. Another way is to bank online. In fact, nine out of ten (88%) Internet bankers surveyed said doing so helps them save time during the holidays.
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