On the web:

• Square’s Remarkably Similar Chinese Competitor Appears - TechCrunch
• Implications of Visa's Recent Change to Chargeback Rules - Vindicia Blog
• Bling Nation’s Pause to Retool Likely to Leave It Behind Rivals - Digital Transactions
• China UnionPay Launches Bankcard-free Trade Handling Platform - TMCnet
• Apple Backpedals On App Store Subscription Rules - TechCrunch
• Bus Tickets Purchased & Presented via SMS - SpringWise

On the wires:

• Edenred Launches MasterCard PayPass Commuter Check Card
• ImpulsePay launches PublishPay to Help Publishers Monetise Mobile Content (UK)
• SelectCore Announces Industry-Changing Mobile Remittance Solution
• New In-App Purchasing and Mobile Payment Capabilities for Windows Phone 7 on CloudMiddleware.com

Bling Nation has announced the rollout of its mobile platform by launching its FanConnect social rewards program in Chicago, as part of a broader national rollout.

FanConnect gives businesses the opportunity to connect with customers when they visit, which can generate awareness, encourage in-store traffic and build customer loyalty through special rewards. Every time a customer earns a reward, they're able to share it with their hundreds of friends on Facebook, who can grab that deal and use it when they visit the business.

Curious about mobile payments, but tired of reading the small print? Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson has compiled a collection of how-they-work videos. Included are videos from Bling Nation, PayNearMe, Square, BOKU, Intuit GoPayment, PayPal Mobile, VivoTech, Oberthur, MobilePay, MocaPay, and FaceCash.

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Zong Brings Direct Mobile Payments to the Philippines
• Ixaris Launches Secret Path Developer Challenge
• New Study Tracks Consumer Attitude Toward Online Shopping and Internet Security This Holiday Season
• New In-Stat Report on Virtual Goods in Social Networking and Online Gaming
• Verifi and Lime Light CRM Partner to Deliver Integrated Risk Management Solution for Direct Response Merchants
• Authentify and DocuSign Deliver More Than 35,000 Securely Signed Documents in First 90 Days of e-signature collaboration
• ThreatMetrix Announces Cookieless Device Identification to Prevent Online Fraud While Protecting Customer Privacy
• American Express Launches Premium Return Protection
• Blackboard Partners with PE Systems to Cut Credit Card Processing Costs for Colleges and Universities
• Virtual Red Kettles and Plastic Cash

• NFC World: Bling Nation to Launch National US Mobile Payments Service in Early 2011
• The Catalyst Code: Insights on Payment Innovation from Harvard Business School’s 16th Annual Cyberposium
• China Payments News: China Telecom, Bank of China, and UnionPay Launch New Mobile Payment Service

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• New Mercator Report on Co-Branded Consumer Credit Cards
• Credit Unions Continue to Move Item Processing In-House
• Bling Nation Taps Merchant360 to Support Rapid Growth
• SmsCoin Now Connects 87 Countries

• Business Insider: Eric Schmidt (Google CEO) Shows Off New 'Nexus S' Payment System
• Wall Street Journal: The New Bank Fees — Lenders' Latest Tricks
• Mobile Marketing: CreditCall Launches Smartphone Chip & PIN Payments Trial in UK
• iStockAnalyst: China to Stop Issuing Magnetic Stripe Cards After 2015
• The Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Layaway Back In Style
• MIT Technology Review: Connecting Credit Cards with the Social Web
• Portals and Rails: Retail Payments Risk Forum publishes white paper on mobile payments
• Treasury & Risk: ACH Settlement Accelerates
• AZcentral.com: Denver Card-Processing Firm Wins Battle for Phone Number

Fifth Third and Bling Nation have announced that any financial institution that is part of the Fifth Third Processing Solutions network can now enable Bling mobile payments services for their debit card customers.

As an expansion of its Palo Alto deployment, Bling Nation has announced its mobile phone payment service is now available throughout Stanford University.

"Bling Nation is a perfect fit for Stanford University campus, as the students are addicted to their mobile phones and can't wait to try the next cool technology," said Stephanie Werner, student at Stanford University. "One thing Stanford students keep with them at all times is their cell phone, so it makes sense that the phone can be used for purchases on and off campus."

VeriFone has announced a partnership with Bling Nation, joining efforts to support a new mobile payments pilot currently underway in Palo Alto, CA.

“This introductory program brings together the best from each market to create a compelling alternative way to pay,” said Paul Rasori, VeriFone senior vice president, marketing. “Bling Nation is combining the payment power of PayPal and point-of-sale footprint of VeriFone to deliver consumer benefits at the convergence of mobile payments.”

Bling Nation today announced partnerships with American National Bank and Guaranty Bond Bank, to offer mobile POS payments to customers and local businesses in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. Bling Nation now has agreements with more than 15 banks and its service has been deployed in communities across the US including Palo Alto, CA; Woodland Park, CO; Saratoga Springs, NY and Clarksville, TN.

Lamar, Colorado-based Valley National Bank has announced it is now offering mobile payments to its customers and community using Bling Nation's tap-and-pay for purchases at the point of sale. READ MORE »

Bankers’ Bank of the West, a provider of correspondent services to community banks in the Rocky Mountain and western states, and Bling Nation have partnered to enable tap-and-pay purchases at the point of sale across the mid-west. According to the companies, Bankers’ Bank of the West will offer mobile payments to its more than 330 client banks. Bling Nation will help these financial institutions and their business customers eliminate payment processing middlemen, while differentiating their services and supporting community “shop local” programs. READ MORE »

In an article titled "Mobile payment systems gain traction", Brandon Bailey writes for the San Jose Mercury News about Bling Nation, MobiBucks and Obopay's approaches to mobile payments. Bailey quotes Bling Nation's Meyer Malka: "We're not going to bet on the technology. We're betting on the gesture," he said, tapping his phone.

See also this article: "Decoding the Mobile Ad Space" in MediaWeek. "PayPal, which is building its mobile payments network, knows what it is willing to pay to acquire an active mobile customer," writes author Jason Spero.

And, this article from the Sunday New York Times Week in Review section: Where a Cellphone Is Still Cutting Edge by Anand Giridharadas. "America’s innovators, building for an ever-expanding bandwidth network, are spiraling toward fancier, costlier, more network-hungry and status-giving devices; meanwhile, their counterparts in developing nations are innovating to find ever more uses for cheap, basic cellphones." Obopay is mentioned.

Interested in learning more about mobile payments in the US and Canada? See Musings on Mobile Payments by Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson - $19.95 immediate ebook delivery.

In its first east coast community deployment, Bling Nation has announced that Saratoga Springs, N.Y.-based The Adirondack Trust Company is actively offering mobile payments to its customers and community. READ MORE »

In an article titled "Colorado town leading the way with contactless payments, rewards" on NFCNews.com, Ed McKinley writes about the experience of The State Bank of La Junta Colorado with the contactless debit payment system provided by Bling Nation. He writes: "The bank, merchants and townspeople are committed to the convenience, consumer rewards, low merchant fees, tight security and community spirit of wireless debit payments, says Brad Rose, a State Bank of La Junta vice president and IT security officer."

In a post titled "Is the Internet Finally Robbing the Greedy Financier’s Gravy Train?", Sarah Lacy writes for TechCrunch about the many traditional industries the Internet has wrecked - and how she sees the recent activities among startups (and acquisitions) indicative of a new trend - companies that are "finally aligning interests between the finance professionals and the users." Lacy goes on to note that "finance has been so anti-innovation and so anti-consumer for so long, these companies don’t have to be perfect to be huge."

In an article titled "Cell phone tags an alternative to credit cards", Mareesa Nicosia writes for The Saratogian in Saratoga Springs, NY about plans by Adirondack Trust Company to begin offering Bling Nation's contactless tag-based payment system beginning in January.

According to Dave Brown, chief operating officer at Adirondack Trust Company, “We’re going into this to promote local merchants and buying local. This is a way our merchants can offer an alternative payment method that we think will appeal to a lot of people.”

In an article on PaymentsViews.com titled "Blinging it Home? A Look at Bling Nation", Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson takes a look at Bling Nation, a provider of a community payments service based on contactless technology and relationships with community financial institutions.

Over the last several weeks, Carol has been conducting a series of very interesting interviews with companies in the mobile payments space. Be sure to check them out!

If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area on the evening of Tuesday, October 20th, you may want to attend the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab discussion on the topic of "Mobile Wallet: Can your phone replace your wallet?" being held at Stanford University.

Panelists for the discussion, to be moderated by Scott Ellison - Vice President/Mobile and Wireless, IDC, include:

• Wenceslao Casares - Founder, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Director, BlingNation
• Eric Duprat - General Manager Mobile, Paypal
• Dev Khare - Vice President, Venrock
• Margaret Mackenzie - SVP Operations and Chief Financial Officer, Boku
• Carol Realini - CEO, Obopay

More details here.

Mobile payments provider Bling Nation has announced receiving $8 million in Series A funding with $6.3 million coming from lead investor Lightspeed Venture Partners. The remaining $1.7 million was raised primarily from Meck, Ltd., which invested an initial $5.3 million in Bling Nation, and CampVentures. READ MORE »

Bling Nation has announced that "La Junta, Colo.-based The State Bank went live on May 21 with the Bling Nation Community Payments Service, a contactless payments network that enables banks and merchants to avoid global network costs and keep money within the community through a secure local debit network. The bank markets the local payments network as an alternative to expensive, traditional payments networks and accompanying rewards program as Redi Pay Bling." READ MORE »