Fall payments boot camps in San Francisco and New York, Final Durbin Rules webinar, and revised eCommerce market analysis reports...

Payments Boot Camps – Two day “deep dive” into the industry, $1995

Oct 04-05, 2011: Santa Clara, CA - Allen Weinberg and Carol Coye Benson

Oct 26-27, 2011: New York, NY - Bryan Derman and Carol Coye Benson

Dec 07-08, 2011: Santa Clara, CA - Scott Loftesness and Carol Coye Benson

Payments Essentials Webinars Library

Glenbrook's webinar analyzing the Final Durbin Rules - with Bryan Derman, Scott Loftesness, and Russ Jones - is now available for playback in the Payments Essentials Library, $149.

eCommerce Market Analysis Reports

Glenbrook's report on the Chine eCommerce market has been revised to reflect 2010 data, new payments acceptance providers, and much greater detail on mobile commerce in China.

Verizon Wireless and Intuit have announced a strategic alliance to offering Intuit's GoPayment app and pocket-sized credit card reader in Verizon Wireless' 2,300 retail stores and business-to-business sales channels.

"Rather than lose out on potential business, anyone who sells a product or service can now easily and affordably give their customers the option of paying with plastic," said Chris Hylen, general manager of Intuit's Payment Solutions division. "GoPayment is meeting a huge need and is one of the fastest growing mobile payment solutions in the market. With Verizon Wireless, we'll help even more people discover that they too can process credit card payments on the phones or tablets they already own."

BOKU has announced that it has "launched direct carrier billing with French carriers Bouygues Telecom and SFR, a subsidiary of Vivendi, adding to existing direct billing with Orange France. The partnership offers over an additional 32 million French customers the ability to pay for digital goods and services using only their existing wireless service account, with the charge appearing on their carrier bill. With this agreement, nearly all mobile users in France will benefit from BOKU direct carrier billing."

On the web:

• Vodafone to Extend Android Billing Worldwide - Rethink Wireless
• Mobile On/Off Switch for Debit Cards Now in Testing - American Banker
• Are Cheques Really Here to Stay in UK? - ThisIsMoney.co.uk
• Why Kenya’s M-Pesa Won’t Work Anywhere Else - memeburn

On the wires:

• Frontier Airlines Selects Accertify to Provide Online Fraud Protection
• NYPAY Event: Alternative Payments & Disruptive Innovation - Where Will the Winners Come From?
• E-invoicing Made Simple: the IKB Leasing Group signs up with Crossgate
• TransFirst Acquires Solveras Payment Solutions

Fifth Third Bank has announced the introduction of its Duo Card.

The Duo Card is a combined credit and debit card providing customers the convenience of conducting all card transactions with one plastic. Fifth Third Bank is the first card issuer in the U.S. to offer this dual functionality and the Duo MasterCard cards are now available.

Consumers control the funding source (DDA or line of credit) using the debit and credit buttons on the card reader, effectively entering their PIN for debit or signing for credit.

Travelex Global Business Payments and Bean Services, an "award winning Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Accounts Payable Automation solution, today announced a partnership intended to provide companies with streamlined end-to-end payables processing."

paysafecard has announced that it has acquired 100% of the shares of payment provider Wallie Holding International Payment Services B.V.

Wallie is currently live in eleven countries in Europe with their ‘Wallie’-branded prepaid solution. Like paysafecard, it enables cash payments online through the use of a PIN. Wallie’s portfolio of merchants is exclusively comprised of companies in the online games industry.

On the web:

• Monitise Gets Mobile Payment License in Nigeria - Banking Business Review
• Time Running Out for Third-Party Payment Firms To Be Licensed in China - China.org.cn

On the wires:

• Mobile Accord and Payfone Team Up to Expand Global Mobile Donations
• ElectraCard Services powers MasterCard debit and prepaid cards in Zimbabwe for FBC Bank
• Aryty.com Expands Free Mobile Top-Up Trial Program to 19 Carriers in 11 Countries
• TrustCommerce Welcomes JayStar Group as New Partner

Fiserv has announced results of a study of Con Edison customers that shows offering electronic bills through online banking or the company’s website can lead to enhanced cash flow and reduced customer care costs.

The study shows that customers who receive electronic bills (e-bills) via a financial institution or the Con Edison website are more likely to make on-time payments, and utilize online self-service rather than costly customer service calls.

The study, conducted by AccuData, analyzed two million Con Edison customer records.

ERPLY has announced an iPad-optimized Mobile Card Reader.

The new credit card device connects to an iPad or iPhone and transmits a customer's encrypted credit card data to the ERPLY point-of-sale software and inventory management software suite to process payments. This gives retailers the ability to view real-time data and inventory analytics through the ERPLY inventory management system.

The ERPLY credit card reader is priced at $50 with a 1.9% transaction fee.

Capital One has launched the Capital One Cash card, "a new cash back credit card that offers 50% more value to customers without the restrictions commonly found in cash rewards cards. With this card, customers get 1% cash back on every purchase every day, a 50% anniversary bonus on cash earned on purchases in the previous year, and a one-time $100 bonus once they spend $500 in the first three months. And of course, as with all other Capital One cards, there are no foreign transaction fees."

Over on our sister blog, Payments Views, Glenbrook's Allen Weinberg takes a look at Visa's recent EMV and contactless acceptance mandates in the US.

The big story is that Visa’s move will accelerate the way for mobile payments with unprecedented scale. Think about it – within a few years, essentially every merchant in the US will have the basic infrastructure in place for mobile payments – and, perhaps more.

Allen also steps through through the electronic payments ecosystem to explore whether this is positive, negative, or neutral to the various stakeholders.

InvoiceASAP has announced a fully integrated Mobile Invoicing Network for the modern mobile workforce at both the small-to-medium (SMB) and enterprise business levels.

Users benefit from full backwards compatible read and write capabilities into multiple accounting systems and business platforms. The InvoiceASAP platform also features an industry first archiving and media tagging system that allows users to attach photos as supporting documentation, with geo tags and voice memos to launch soon. The platform is launching first on Apple iOS, with releases planned for Android and BlackBerry this fall.

Online payments are fulfilled using Jumio Netswipe technology, which turns any webcam into a secure card reader.

On the web:

• A Woman, A Cupcake, A Bank And A Square: Why Card Companies Are Scared Of Change - TechCrunch
• Apple's iPad Already Replacing Cash Registers by the Bushel - AllThingsD

On the wires:

• Bill.com Launches Printed Invoice Mailing Service, Adds QR Codes
• WePay Enhances Easy-To-Use API for Developers and Merchants

Internet Retailer is reporting the results from its first online merchant survey on potential debit card steering practices. Bottom line: one in six online merchants plan to take steps to encourage debit card usage.

39.6% of respondents said they didn’t know debit card fees were going down; a further 43.2% said they have no plans to encourage more debit card spending on their retail sites, while 17.1% will take steps to lower their costs by encouraging debit card payments.

Glenbrook's Russ Jones blogged about POS Steering in the Age of Durbin earlier this year.

PaymentOne has announced the company "surpassed $5 billion in micro-payment transactions and incremental revenue generation for its digital clients. PaymentOne enables publishers, application developers and digital merchants such as AOL, Blizzard Entertainment and Gaia Online to sell more virtual goods, online and mobile services, and recurring digital subscriptions to consumers around the world." PaymentOne was an earlier pioneer in bill-to-carrier payments.

American Express and Groupon Hong Kong have announced that the two companies are partnering to let American Express Cardmembers redeem Membership Rewards for Groupon cash vouchers at a 60% discount.

The collaboration sets a major milestone for both American Express and Groupon Hong Kong. Groupon Hong Kong has become the first Membership Rewards partner of American Express from the online group-buying category, adding a new dimension to the American Express Membership Rewards program and offering American Express Cardmembers broader choice in their rewards selection.

In related news, American Express also announced a new reward card for business customers that earns double points for spending on online advertising.

On the web:

• Digital Money Facing a Challenging Road - Rethink Wireless
• The Disintermediation of the Point of Sale Industry - Point of Sale News
• A New Payment Instrument for Britain: The Deposit Cheque - Consult Hyperion Blog
• Square No Longer Requires Signatures For Transactions Under $25 - TechCrunch
• VeriFone CEO Bergeron May Deploy $1 Billion Annually for Acquisitions - Bloomberg
• Is Recent EMV Announcement the Catalyst the U.S. Needs to Catch Up? - Portals and Rails
• Google Adds Carrier Billing (via Vodafone) to Android Market in UK - thinq_
• Debit Overdraft Fees, While Voluntary, Are Still Steep - New York Times
• Debit Card Fees Could Signal Trend - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

On the wires:

• Western Union Now Available in Namibia in Collaboration with Magnet Bureau De Change
• Cloud Billing Software Provider MetraTech Collaborates with Scribe for Online Billing Integration
• Failsafe Payments Adds TrustPay To CertoConnect