Everything Everywhere (the JV that runs T-Mobile and Orange in the UK), Telefónica UK, and Vodafone UK have announced plans to create a standalone m-commerce joint venture, enabling the development and delivery of both new mobile marketing and payment services.

The JV will deliver the technology required for the speedy adoption of mobile wallet and payments. This will enable consumers to transfer their entire physical wallet into a new secure, SIM-based wallet regardless of which NFC enabled mobile device, or mobile network they are using. Companies and organizations that provide anything from credit, debit and loyalty cards to membership cards and transport tickets will be able to create secure mobile versions of their products.

Everything Everywhere, Telefónica UK and Vodafone UK say they will continue to develop their own competing products and services tailored to their own customers, which will "be based on the open platform infrastructure provided by the JV."

On the web:

• Facebook Adds New Payment Options for Facebook Credits - Inside Social Games
• Court Favors Customer over Bank in ACH Fraud Suit - Bank Info Security
• Mobile payments: Who needs NFC anyway? - Computerworld
• Cheques Set to be Given a Reprieve in UK - Business Matters
• American Express to help retailers drive loyalty, sales via social deals - Mobile Commerce Daily

On the wires:

• eWise and Affirmative Technologies Partner to Accelerate the Adoption of Secure Vault Payments
• mFoundry Passes 400 Customer Milestone

Glenbrook has expanded its series of eCommerce Market Analysis Reports with a new profile of the market in Turkey.

These reports are designed to help U.S. companies better understand eCommerce markets around the world — what local acceptance practices make each unique, what payment options are necessary to reach a critical mass of online buyers, and which payment providers can assist with market entry.

This new report complement our existing analysis of the eCommerce markets in China, India, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Russia, and Poland. Let us know if you have questions or are interest in discounted, multi-report pricing.

Starbucks has announced the latest offering of the Starbucks mobile platform with "the launch of Starbucks for Android app providing more consumers access to the fastest way to pay and other features to manage their Starbucks Card on-the-go. In addition, the company announced that Safeway, Inc., one of the nation’s largest supermarket chains, plans to rollout mobile payment in July at nearly 1,000 Starbucks in Safeway supermarkets across the United States, including the company’s Vons, Pavilions, Dominick’s, Randalls, Tom Thumb and Genuardi’s stores."

Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, has released a statement and a report calling on wireless carriers to make sure consumers are protected from fraud and mistakes when making mobile purchases.

In a report on mobile payments issued today, the group highlighted how consumer protections vary widely for different mobile payment methods, how wireless carrier contracts fail to provide needed safeguards, and tips for consumers using mobile payments. Consumers Union has launched a Facebook campaign to encourage wireless carriers to adopt stronger contractual protections for mobile payments linked to wireless accounts.

LSN Mobile and First Data have announced a new mobile offer program that "gives both advertisers and retailers an efficient, cost-effective and trackable mobile marketing solution to boost store traffic."

Branded as “My Mobile Offer,” this first-of-its-kind solution leverages the combined characteristics of Short Message Service (SMS), mobile advertising and traditional marketing and capitalizes on the popularity and increasing usage of personalized offers and discounts. The program allows brands to take full advantage of the power of mobile marketing.

The Secure POS Vendor Alliance (Hypercom, Ingenico, and VeriFone) has announced the release of standards for the post manufacturing stage of a secure payment device. "The new guidelines require that a payment device be properly handled from the moment it is produced to the moment it is loaded with customer keys."

Monster Offers has announced an agreement with Iconosys to integrate the Monster Offers one-click mobile payment solutions with more than 500 popular mobile phone applications. "Through its collaboration with Iconosys, Monster Offers will be able to offer its mobile payment solutions through the current and future Iconosys distribution network of mobile phone application users."

American Express and AOL’s Patch have announced a strategic partnership to offer the Serve digital payment platform, to millions of Patch customers.

As part of its recently launched Patch Deals platform, Patch, the hyperlocal arm of AOL Huffington Post Media Group, will offer users the ability to redeem local deals and transact with local merchants via the American Express network. Through the partnership, local merchants will be able to post offers online in a more streamlined, effective way, and consumers will benefit by redeeming offers at the point of sale.

The company says users will be able to sign up for Serve accounts via hundreds of Patch sites this fall.

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has announced (PDF) the findings of the Council's Virtualization Special Interest Group. "The PCI DSS Virtualization Guidelines Information Supplement provides guidance to those in the payment chain on the use of virtualization technology in cardholder data environments in accordance with PCI DSS."

On the web:

• Justice Department Seeks OK for Pact With Visa, MasterCard - Wall Street Journal
• What is NFC, and why do we care? - Engadget
• SK C&C USA, InComm Will Let Merchants Offer Mobile Payments - Bloomberg
• Citi Says Many More Customers Were Affected by Data Theft - New York Times

On the wires:

• Fifth Third Processing Solutions Changes Name to Vantiv
• First Data Rebrands UK Acquiring Business to First Data Merchant Services
• Report Says Cash is King When it Comes to Credit Card Incentives
• VoiceTrust Expands With Mobile Payments in the Middle East
• Study Finds Mobile Check Deposit Top Reason to Switch Primary Banks
• ThreatMetrix Launches New “ThreatMetrix Fraud Facts”

American Express has announced a reloadable prepaid card with no activation or maintenance fees.

“We created a simple, transparent and easy-to-use everyday payment card to address a real pain point that consumers have with existing prepaid products in the market that are laden with fees and confusing terms including monthly and maintenance fees,” said Dan Schulman, group president of American Express’ Enterprise Growth Group.

Moggle has announced that Propell will implement the Virtual Piggy payment platform as part of its “instant ecommerce” system for K-12 schools.

“We are thrilled to offer a parent-approved method for children to initiate the purchase of items from our online stores," said Ed Bernstein, CEO of Propell. "The VirtualPiggy system lets students make independent purchase decisions supporting their school fundraising, yet parents have ultimate control and approval of the spending. We believe this adds tremendous value to the PropellShops service."

On the web:

• South Korea Announces Major Push on Open NFC Payment Services - Reuters
• Thieves Found Citigroup Site an Easy Entry - New York Times
• Mobile Payments and Mental Accounting - TIME.com
• The Tuesday Podcast: Inside The Credit Card Black Market - NPR Planet Money

On the wires:

• NFC Over-the-Air and Over-the-Wire Provisioning Patent Awarded to Tyfone
• Mexico Banking Leader BBVA Bancomer Orders 10,000+ Hypercom Optimum Payment Systems
• SafetyPay Selected By BorderJump as Preferred Payment Solution for Cross Border Transactions
• Retail Decisions (ReD) Launches Truly Multi-Lingual Fraud Prevention
• FICO Will Protect 1 in 3 German Credit Cards from Fraud
• AisleBuyer Raises $7.5 Million in Series E Round

Verizon Wireless and Payfone have announced the "companies are working together to bring a new mobile payment system to Verizon Wireless customers. When available, the service will allow Verizon Wireless customers to make online purchases from their smartphones, tablets and PCs using numerous payment methods, including charging purchases to their monthly wireless statements or using traditional payment methods through financial institution partners."

NuWallet announced it "has solved the most annoying obstacle for online shoppers using their mobile phone for purchases."

"NuWallet has developed an application that cuts the mobile checkout process from minutes to just a few seconds by auto-populating all of the user's billing information to securely complete a transaction," said George Hendrix, President and CEO of NuWallet. The NuWallet app also eliminates the potential of billing input errors, which not only frustrates the customer, but also increases the likelihood of shopper abandonment resulting in lost revenue for merchants.

U.S. Bank has announced its "release of a dual interface payment solution that offers enhanced acceptance and compatibility with credit cards systems worldwide. The new U.S. Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa credit card combines Visa payWave, EMV chip, and magnetic stripe technologies, enabling customers to have the best experience possible wherever they use their cards."

ROAM Data has announced ROAMwallet API, an "innovative 1-Tap™ mobile checkout solution that turns the mobile marketing channel into a mobile sales channel."

Unlike other wallets stored on the secure element of an NFC chip, this ubiquitous mobile wallet securely stores cardholder data in the cloud, for use on any phone, tablet, POS system or computer. ROAMwallet’s patent pending architecture goes beyond other e-wallets to send level three and meta data about the transaction back to the merchant, and the API can be very easily incorporated by any mobile app developer to include convenient 1-Tap checkout in applications or mobile advertisements.

AccountNow, the reloadable prepaid provider, has announced it is merging with Ready Financial Group. The combined company will continue to operate using both brand names. Jim Jones, AccountNow CEO, will be the CEO of the combined company to be known as AccountNow. Will Tumulty, Ready CEO, will become Chief Marketing Officer of the combined firm.

On the web:

• PayPal Ready to Seek E-commerce Gold in Russia - Telegraph
• Google Wallet "one of the biggest investments we've made at Google" - NFC World
• New Wal-Mart Kiosks Present Subtle, But Real, Threat to Banks - American Banker
• Thoughts on Google Wallet - NetBanker
• Avoiding Security Missteps in a World of Pervasive Data Collection - Portals and Rails
• Women's Guide to Success in Payments - LINC Northern California

On the wires:

• Accel Partners Leads $50 Million Investment in YapStone
• New Mercator Report on Global Prepaid Market
• E-Commerce Merchants Prepare for Issuer Response to Durbin Legislation
• BookIt.com Sells Travel Packages Using PayPal 'Parallel' Payments
• Fiserv and Dollar Bank Expand Partnership to Streamline Lending Operations, Support the Customer Experience