Blackhawk Network has announced it has "signed an exclusive agreement with The Kroger Co. to bring Blackhawk Network's award winning Gift Card Mall program to the nation's largest grocery chain in time for the holiday season."

Heartland Payment Systems has announced it has "filed an antitrust action against MICROS Systems, Inc.; Merchant Link, LLC; and Chase Paymentech, owner of Merchant Link. The suit, filed in United States District Court in New Jersey, alleges the three companies have caused increased processing prices for table-service restaurants through an anti-competitive tying arrangement which violates the Sherman Antitrust Act and New Jersey's unfair competition laws." The text of Heartland's complaint is available online.

Monitise Americas and Metavante have announced the launch of Monitise Americas' mobile financial services in the United States. According to the two companies, "the service, which is fully integrated into the industry leading NYCE Payments Network to deliver a highly secure connection to the nation’s leading financial institutions, allows financial institutions of all sizes to offer mobile financial services to their customers without significant investment in new technology."

VeriFone Holdings has announced "formation of VeriFone Access to provide merchant hosted services for managing electronic payments, beginning in Mexico. VeriFone Access was formed with VeriFone’s investment and in partnership with Tienda-kit, an innovative Mexican third-party acquirer and merchant services provider, which now operates as VeriFone Access."

Verizon Wireless has announced that it will "provide customers the option to use, on its nationwide wireless network, wireless devices, software and applications not offered by the company. Verizon Wireless plans to have this new choice available to customers throughout the country by the end of 2008."

With this move by Verizon, the implications for mobile banking and mobile payments will be fun to ponder. What's not mentioned in Verizon's press release is what the cost might be to qualify an open device on its network.

What's an example of a non-traditional mobile device? Amazon's Kindle comes to mind - I've got one and Amazon's Whispernet (running over Sprint's wireless network) is a key ingredient in making the Kindle such a delightful experience for readers. That, and, of course, the integrated 1-Click payment from my Amazon Account.

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