Earlier this week, Sunnyvale, California-based Cimbal announced the launch of a private beta for merchants and customers. According to the company, "Cimbal is an entirely software-based solution which does not require any additional hardware for consumers or merchants to process electronic payments. A smartphone with a camera for the consumer and a software update for the point-of-sale system at the store is all that's needed to pay with Cimbal." READ MORE »

First Data Corporation has released its First Data SpendTrend™ analysis for the full month of March 2010. SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending via credit, signature debit, PIN debit and EBT cards at U.S. merchant locations.

According to the company, "consumer spending made a comeback in March. Same-store dollar volume and transactions increased at their highest rate in two years, marking the first double digit growth since first quarter 2008. Dollar volume growth was 11.5% (10.2% excluding Gasoline Stations) and transaction growth was up 10.1% (9.8% excluding Gasoline Stations), up from 8.4% and 6.9%, respectively, in February. Several key factors contributed to the growth including a 10.0% increase in tax refunds, stabilized unemployment and early Easter spending."

A copy of the full report is available online.

Jay says it's important that payment service providers "finally realize that it is much more effective to sell their services by educating merchants and selling on the strength of their offerings - rather than keeping things dark and scary and selling on merchant’s trepidations."

Are you seeking to expand your ecommerce efforts globally? Contact Jay!

• InComm and Qpay Have Entered Into a Definitive Merger Agreement
• Mobile Marketing Watch: Cimbal- Merchant-Based Mobile Payments Via Barcodes
• Calling All Innovators: Nokia Will Invest $1 Million in a Winning Idea
• CBS News: Get Ready for the Mobile Payments Era
• The Financial Services Club's Blog: A new PSD-approved Payments Institution starts business (Voice Commerce Group)
• AP: Italy central bank orders stop to new AmEx cards
• PaymentsSource: ACH Is Next Frontier for Mobile Phones
• The Royal Gazette: HSBC Bermuda introduces 'tap-and-go' card technology
• MICROS Partners with Trustwave to Offer its Clients Additional PCI Compliance Tools
• MasterCard Joins Forces with Next Jump to Revolutionize the Consumer E-Commerce Experience
• About.com: RFID to the Rescue (Bling Nation)
• WSJ.com: RBS Gets At Least 11 Worldpay Bids, Offers Financing -Sources
• The Financial Services Club's Blog: How Facebook Payments could work in the future
• Digital Buzz Blog: Square: iPad / iPhone Credit Card Processing
• FinVentures: Mobile Money – Navigating in the Fog
• Blue Bamboo embraces the iPhone and raises the Mobile Payments bar
• Secure Remote Payment Council Adds New Members to Help in the Development of Secure eCommerce and Mobile Payments
• DMNews: American Express, Dunkin' Donuts partner on rewards initiative
• Marketing Week (UK): Mastercard brings in Bonnie Tyler for latest ad
• Forbes.com: Turning Data Into Money

In an article titled "MasterCard Set to Open an Online Shopping Mall", Andrew Martin writes for the New York Times about MasterCard's plans to introduce "a Web shopping mall on Monday that it says can pinpoint with considerable accuracy what its cardholders are likely to purchase." Martin goes on to note that the mall is powered by technology provided by Next Jump.

Over on TechCrunch in an article titled "Next Jump Takes Over MasterCard’s New Rewards Program, MasterCard MarketPlace", Erick Schonfeld writes that "Next Jump takes an algorithmic approach to reward both good shoppers and good deals."

Click here to view MasterCard MarketPlace.

Earlier today, Apple held an announcement event in Cupertino for version 4.0 of its iPhone OS - scheduled for availability later this summer.

Among the many new features for end-users and developers is a new mobile advertising platform that Apple is calling iAd. iAd provides application developers with a way to integrate a powerful advertising revenue stream right into their applications - and to receive a majority of the revenue from the advertising. To learn more about iAd, watch this video of today's announcement event - the iAd discussion begins about 44 minutes into the video.

What are the implications of this for financial services players? Do you have a mobile application strategy? If so, have you thought about whether advertising is a component of your app - or not?

You can bet that the most innovative financial services mobile app developers will be focusing on the new iAd capability as 4.0 nears launch this summer. Whether incumbents do - or not - will be fascinating to watch!

Offerpal Media has announced that it has integrated several new direct payment options into its platform in order to help social developers and online game publishers accept payments from users who do not have or are unwilling to use credit cards. The new payment options include pre-paid debit cards, phone cards, e-payment systems, parent-approved payments and more, from such partners as Zeus Research and STi Prepaid, paysafecard, MyCard, Rixty, BillMyParents, ClickandBuy and others—covering nearly 200 countries in all. READ MORE »

First Data Corporation has announced that Steve Boehm has joined the company as senior vice president leading global product management and innovation for First Data’s Financial Services division. READ MORE »

Gemalto has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Todos AB from investors led by 6AP, a fund belonging to the Swedish National Pension system. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and employing 80 people worldwide, Todos AB is a provider of strong authentication solutions for internet banking. READ MORE »

• Near Field Communications World: Apple to build mobile payments business around iTunes credits?
• Digital Transactions: As 2-D Barcodes Gain Steam for M-Payments, a Novel Twist Emerges
• WAUSAU Financial Systems Partners with Striata for Email Bill Presentment and Payment
• FICO Introduces Free App for iPhone and iPod touch
• Credit Karma: Consumer Credit Scores Stable in Q1 2010
• SearchCIO.com: Cloud security best practices foster rapid deployments (mFoundry, Sun National Bank)
• Alpine Bank Boosts Competitive Edge With Diebold's MobiTransact(TM) Mobile Banking Solution
• Cardtronics to Manage Travelex's U.S. ATM Network
• First American Payment Systems Rolls Out New ISO/Agent Recruiting Website
• Finextra: RBS inundated with WorldPay offers
• Mobile Commerce Daily: NRF introduces initiative to retailers diving into mobile commerce
• Finextra: European ATM fraud losses tumble - East

NACHA has reported that ACH payment volume increased by more than 475 million transactions in 2009, bringing year-end total transaction volume to 18.76 billion, a 2.6 percent increase over 2008 activity.

According to NACHA, "year-over-year comparisons demonstrated strong volume increases in ACH native electronic payments — Direct Deposit, consumer Internet transactions, and B2B transactions — and in back office check conversion. In addition, NACHA is reporting a continued positive trend in risk mitigation, witnessed by the ongoing decline in the unauthorized debit volume." READ MORE »

TSYS has published a new white paper titled "Risky Business: Best Practices for Managing Cardholder Dispute and Chargeback Processes in Challenging Times" by Robert Hadden. The paper discusses how card issuers can better use chargeback and dispute processes to have a "significant positive impact on customer relations."

PayPal has announced that its PayPal Mobile iPhone app has been downloaded over one million times in less than three weeks since it was released on March 15, 2010. The application is available as a free download from the Apple iTunes store online or the Apple App Store from any iPhone or iPod Touch. For more information on PayPal Mobile, visit https://www.paypal.com/mobile. READ MORE »

• CreditCards.com: DIY, credit card style: Issuers roll out 'do it yourself' cards
• Consumer Opposition To Rewards Caps Is High, says Auriemma Consulting Group
• CashEdge Appoints Top Industry Veteran as Global Head of Product and Marketing
• Acculynk Announces ISO Program for Internet Card Not Present Processing
• peHUB: Cardlytics Raises Venture Debt
• MasterCard Advisors: SpendingPulse March Report: Most U.S. Retail Industry Sectors Continue a Trend of Positive Year-on-Year Gains, Although Still Off From 2008 Spending Levels
• Alfredo Gangotena Named MasterCard Chief Marketing Officer
• New Aite Group Report: Inside the World of ISO Vendors
• i365, A Seagate Company, Partners with the New Jersey Bankers Association to Provide 125 Member Financial Institutions Access to i365’s EVault Software and EVault Cloud-Connected Storage Solutions
• WSJ.com: Hamas Killing Shines Light on Prepaid Cards
• Report Reveals Winning Model for the Small Business Banking Market
• NetBanker: PNC Bank's Virtual Wallet Offers Three Ways to Put Your Savings on Autopilot
• PaymentsViews.com: Payments Milestone: CHIPS is 40 Today
• Safetrust Online Solution Enables Debt Settlement Companies to Help Consumers Take Control and Eliminate Debt
• TNS Showcases Payment Solutions That Help Partners Grow Their Revenues
• ThreatMetrix to Showcase Leading Online Fraud Detection Solutions at April 13 - 15 Electronic Transactions Association Annual Meeting and Expo in Las Vegas

Yes, you! I'm asking you a question! Who are you?

See my PaymentsViews.com post: "Are You an Incumbent – or an Innovator?"

The University of Denver's Daniels College of Business has announced that its School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management (HRTM) has entered into a strategic partnership with Mocapay to enable students to use their mobile phones to make purchases at Beans, the school's student run coffee shop. READ MORE »

The Center for Financial Services Innovations has published a new research paper titled "How Should We Serve the Short-Term Credit Needs of Low-Income Consumers?". From the abstract: "Well-structured credit is essential to support a household’s ability to save, build a considerable credit history, and to facilitate crucial investments that can provide a foundation for other wealth-building activities. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of high-quality, small-dollar, short-term credit products in the marketplace today that help consumers to accomplish these goals. This paper explores the challenges these types of products face in order to identify business strategies and public policies that support the development of an efficient marketplace for premium short-term credit."

Visa has announced additional companies joining Visa SavingsEdge, Visa’s small business savings program, including Staples, Orbitz, USA TODAY, La Quinta Inns & Suites and Box.net. Visa SavingsEdge is available to cardholders of participating issuers who enroll by registering their card at: http://www.visasavingsedge.com. READ MORE »

• The National Newspaper: Is China ready to dial ‘M’ for money?
• The Corporate Executive Board and TowerGroup Hold First Joint Financial Services & Technology Conference
• Puget Sound Business Journal: Why Nordstrom runs its own credit-card program: it gains sales and loyalty
• ContactlessNews: Oyster card upgrade underway (UK)
• The Parkmobilizer: Parkmobile USA, Inc. Unveils Its iPhone Mobile Application Today
• Digital Transactions: In Bypassing iPhone for iPad, Square Shows Its Hand—Or Some of It
• Arab Financial Services Selects First Data To Bring World-Class Payment Solutions To Regional Client Base
• Banking Times (UK): Visa reports rise in retail terminal key-logger attacks
• Monitise Americas Publishes White Paper on the Critical Mobile Banking Decision
• Heartland Payment Systems and OpenBook Bring State-of-the-Art Data Security to Lodging Industry
• Capital One Bank Survey Reveals Most Small Businesses See Economic Conditions as Holding Steady
• More Social Media Innovators Choose Peanut Labs Alternate Monetization

Adyen, a Netherlands-headquartered payments processing company started by the founders of Bibit, has announced the expansion of the company to the U.S. marketplace. Adyen executives include Chief Executive Officer, Pieter van der Does; President of North America, Peter Caparso; Chief Commerce Officer, Roelant Prins; and Chief Technology Officer, Arnout Schuijff. READ MORE »

Tempo has announced that its affinity debit platform is being utilized by the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope to provide donors with debit cards that support the Barry Manilow-created nonprofit organization’s campaign to save public school music programs “one swipe at a time.” Each time a Manilow Fund for Health and Hope debit card is used to make a purchase, the organization will receive a portion of standard transaction fees, utilizing cardholders’ purchasing power instead of out-of-pocket money to increase the Fund’s revenue. Proceeds will be used by the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope’s Manilow Music Project to put musical instruments into the hands of public school students across the U.S. READ MORE »

• Forbes.com: Paying For Everything With Your Phone
• WalletPop: Interchange fees cost you more than you realize
• Javelin Strategy & Research Blog: Payments innovation: “lightweight innovation” versus complete upheaval
• Boulder County Business Report: CyberSource adding jobs in Boulder
• BB&T Selects Online Resources for Biller-Direct Payments
• CSMonitor.com: Are you making these four credit card mistakes?
• IntoMobile: American Express launches its iPhone app
• Payments Views from Glenbrook Partners: Jay DeWitt: Is Global eCommerce Really Such a Dark and Scary Place?
• Experian Launches New Credit Score to Better Evaluate Small-Business Risk
• People's Daily Online (China): Mobile payment pilot project launched
• PaymentsSource: Starbucks, Target Buck NFC In Mobile Payments
• Celent Banking Blog: A Product Does Not a Patent Make (Electronic Payment Orders)
• The Columbus Dispatch: John G. McCoy, innovative businessman, philanthropist , dies at 97
• The Financial Brand: The Very Mobile Future of Banking - Good collection of videos!
• NetBanker: Banks Shutout on iPad Opening Day, But Square is There
• YesPay Launches New Cloud Computing Architecture in a Managed Card Payment Service Context
• Star-Bulletin (Hawaii): Debit cards have downsides
• payUSAtax™ Now Accepts MasterCard® Cards for Personal and Business IRS Federal Tax Payments
• LexisNexis Risk Solutions Helps Debt Collectors Save 50 Percent or More in Bankruptcy Searches
• The Bancorp Bank Announces Strategic Alliance with Franchise America Finance™ to Create a National SBA Guaranteed Lending Program for Franchisees

In a post titled "Glenbrook’s Model for Social Payments (A Work in Progress)", Glenbrook's Russ Jones writes on PaymentsViews.com about social payments - what they are and what they aren't!

I’ve concluded that for something to be a social payment, it’s got to be social. It’s got to involve multiple parties paying at once. Or multiple parties being paid at once. Or one party buying and another party paying. On and on."

Plan to join Russ and Glenbrook's Erin McCune for a session titled “Web 2.0 and the Emergence of Social Payments” at the upcoming NACHA Payments 2010 conference in Seattle. Glenbrook will also be exploring this topic in an upcoming webinar - Social Payments – Scenario Analysis - that will be held May 5th, 2010. Registration is now open.