On the web:

• This Guy Is Selling His Book Exclusively Via Bitcoin - Business Insider - "He convinced me (plus subsequent research) that Bitcoin has many features that make it attractive not only as a potential future currency but as a replacement for all contract law."
• Amazon Launches Amazon Coins Virtual Currency On Kindle Fire, Gives $5 In Free Coins To All Users - TechCrunch - "Amazon today is finally taking Amazon Coins, is new virtual currency, live on the Kindle Fire in the U.S."
• Thieves Stole $45 Million From ATMs Because The U.S. Uses Absurd 40-Year-Old Technology - PopSci - "The chief vulnerability of the EMV system? IT STILL HAS MAGNETIC STRIPES."
• New Android Boss Finally Reveals Plans for World’s Most Popular Mobile OS - Wired - "I have a secret project which adds four hours every day to the 24 hours we have."

On the wires:

• Amazon Coins Now Available for Kindle Fire Customers - "For customers, Amazon Coins is an easy way to purchase apps and in-app items on Kindle Fire, and for developers it’s another opportunity to drive traffic, downloads and increased monetization."
• Blaze Mobile Awarded Three Key Patents for NFC Mobile Payments - "Blaze Mobile, a leader in mobile payment solutions, has recently been awarded three key NFC Mobile Payment patents."

On the web:

• In A.T.M. Robbery Case, a Splashy Trail of Big Spending - NY Times - "The eight young men, according to law enforcement officials, had just pulled off the first of two thefts that would ultimately rank among the biggest in New York City history…"
• Exclusive: Indian card processor in $45 million heist is ElectraCard - sources - Reuters - "Experts in cyber security said the heists expose an Achilles heel in the global financial industry: prepaid debit cards."
• The Problem with Prepaid: $45 Million ATM Heist Edition - American Banker - BankThink - "This fraud scheme adds to the many reasons banks approach prepaid products with caution."
• How to Pull Off a $45 Million Global ATM Heist - TechNews Daily - "This specific attack requires a very high level of sophistication and perhaps some inside help."
• Mobile Gift Card App Gyft Partners With BitPay To Start Accepting Bitcoin Payments In Its Android App - TechCrunch - "Gyft is proud to be a pioneer in the bitcoin universe and we are excited about the possibilities for further innovation on our platform…"

On the web:

• India: Oxigen ties up with NPCI to unveil instant remittance service OxiCash for unbanked people - TechCircle.in - "OxiCash is a mobile wallet service through which people can make money transfers to any bank and also receive funds using the IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) platform of the NPCI…"
• Google Wallet chief leaves the company - VentureBeat - "Osama Bedier, the head of Google Wallet is out, according to several sources."
• Gay Bankers, Once Silent, Speak of Progress — and Hurdles - American Banker - "No one should be afraid to come to work every day as who they are, and no one should have to check who they are at the door…"
• PayPal’s John Lunn reveals how online retailers are using consumer data to beat high street stores - The Next Web - "…find out which startups are helping online retailers to maintain this market dominance, and what physical retailers should do next to fight back."
• Why mobile wallets alone will fail - Cyriac Roeding (shopkick CEO) - "The problem with mobile payments is that payment isn't a problem in the shopping world."
• Off The Schneid - AVC - "I've led a new venture investment for USV, which closed a few weeks ago and was announced last night. The company is Coinbase and my blog post announcing the investment is on the USV blog."
• Purchase, Deposit, and Bank from a Smartphone with Paidpiper - Programmable Web - "Paidpiper represents a new player to the field with a slightly different value proposition over some of its competitors."
• CardFlight Partners With Stripe And Launches SDK To Become The ‘Stripe Of Real-World Payments’ - TechCrunch - "Enter CardFlight, which is launching with an encrypted, Square-like card reader of its own, as well as an SDK and APIs that will allow developers to create apps and take “card-present” payments on their mobile apps."
• EMV Takes Center Stage on Day Two of THE Tech EVENT - Convenience Store News - "Several speakers stressed in today’s standing-room-only session that EMV is a set of guidelines, not standards."
• Prepaid Cards for Jobless Benefits - The Members Group - "…42 states in the U.S. now direct deposit monthly unemployment benefits to out-of-work consumers on reloadable prepaid cards…"
• Discover Card's Email Balance Alert is a Thing of Beauty - NetBanker - "The message is nicely laid out with plenty of white space and it's chock full of links to get more information."

On the wires:

• MasterCard to Power Nigerian Identity Card Program - "This program is the largest roll-out of a formal electronic payment solution in the country and the broadest financial inclusion initiative of its kind on the African continent."
• Wells Fargo Adds Bankers, Launches New Secured Credit Products to Help More Small Businesses - "Wells Fargo’s new Business Secured Credit Card also helps new businesses establish and rebuild business credit…"
• Tabbedout and Future POS Expand Partnership to Bring Unrivaled Merchant Marketing Solution to All Future Fusion Merchants - "This new partnership means that the Tabbedout merchant marketing solution, Periscope, is now available in the 4,000+ Future POS merchant locations that use the Future Fusion software in their restaurants, bars, and hotels…"
• Elavon Names Simon Haslam President and Chief Executive Officer - "Simon’s experience and passion for growth and innovation make him the best individual to lead Elavon as we continue to extend our global reach and the value we deliver to our customers."
• Barclays Uses Nuance Voice Biometrics to Identify Customers by the Sound of their Voice - "No longer will customers need to answer intrusive security questions in order to verify their identity. By simply speaking with an agent, a customer’s voice is verified using Nuance voice biometrics technology, making the authentication process quick, secure and transparent."

On the web:

• iPads as Cash Registers Are About to Go From Novelty to Norm - Wired - "Such numbers suggest that checking out by phone or tablet is nearing that magical inflection point at which technology tips from novel and surprising into “unsurprising because it’s everywhere.”"
• Material Histories of Debt and Payment - Anthropology News - "Through commentaries, we seek to forge unexpected and generative connections across the history of payments and payments artifacts, and between actors and institutions that study, make, collect and use payments artifacts."
• Preliminary EU ruling finds Google's Motorola guilty of abuse of standard-essential patents - FOSS Patents
• Wendy’s trials mobile payments with commerce-enabled app - Mobile Commerce Daily - "Once the card is loaded with money, the payment is triggered by consumers swiping their finger across the screen. A unique, one-time code is then revealed on the screen that consumers can read to a Wendy’s employee."
• Canada: Rogers gets closer to starting banking business - Financial Post - "The company said Friday afternoon the Minister of Finance has issued letters patent incorporating Rogers Bank."

On the wires:

• Ink from Chase Enhances Jot Mobile Application with Receipt Capture Capability - "Jot sends small business owners a push alert within seconds of making a purchase with their Ink card. Customers can immediately tag these purchases to custom categories on a mobile device or online."
• New RushCard Initiatives Aim for Best-in-Industry Transparency - "With our new disclosures, it’s now easy for the average customer to understand all of the fees associated with our cards, including those fees levied by other companies…"

Over on our Payments Views, Glenbrook's George Peabody shares his observations about the confluence of EMV chip card migration, mobile devices and authentication in the US market.

While EMV injects dynamic data into the payment message (as well as clear text PANs), it is an otherwise mostly static, single purpose platform. Compare that to the mobile device, which combines static data (SIM serial number, etc.) with recognizable configuration profiles for device fingerprinting, context-specific dynamic data such as location plus application-specific PIN or biometric entry. And that all happens before the payment transaction takes place.

On the web:

• Nate Silver: What Big Data can't predict - Fortune - "It's important to know, too, that there's a difference between how good we are relative to our potential and how intrinsically predictable something might be."
• Two-factor or not two-factor? That is the security question - InfoWorld - "The case for two-factor authentication would appear to be a slam dunk. But not all security experts praise the solution as a remedy for all security ills."
• PayPal President Makes Surprise Commentary About Bitcoin: “We’re kinda thinking about it” - Silicon Angle - "It’s too far out to speculate on how PayPal would enable this, but if they did it could bring about an accessibility revolution overnight."
• PayPal Sees $20 Billion in Mobile Transactions - Bloomberg video interview with PayPal's David Marcus
• Visa and Fandango Mobilize Buying Movie Tickets - AdWeek - "If consumers opt in for the GPS-enabled Tixpress, they'll see a virtual marquee with movies that are showing nearby. With a couple of taps, they can view showtimes and purchase tickets if they've synced up Fandango app with their Visa account."
• Banks Should Act More Like Apple: Cap One's Innovation Chief - Bank Technology News - "The bank is additionally trying to learn lessons from other industries. It's been looking at, of all categories of companies, newspapers for inspiration..."
• Bitcoin takes an important step toward becoming part of every web browser on the planet - "Bitcoin just took an important step closer to becoming the universal, open, distributed payments glue that binds the world of digital money, anonymous transactions, and extra-governmental currencies together."
• Why banks FAIL at partnerships in mobile finance - "In summary, a bank now has to partner to deliver mobile finance. That means that the bank that used to do everything itself is now just part of a mixed value chain of solution providers covering hardware manufacturers, network operators, payments processors, information service providers and more."
• Smartphones Finally Surpass the Feature Phone - NY Times Bits Blog - "Manufacturers shipped 418.6 million cellphones, 216.2 million of which were smartphones, says IDC."

On the wires:

• Coming Soon!

On the web:

• PayPal Hits The Mall: eBay's Baby Takes On Google, AmEx And Apple At Cash Registers - Forbes (Clare O'Connor) - "The aim is for shoppers to be able to use PayPal at the cash register in two million stores by the end of 2013."
• Banks Urged to Put Limits on Payday-Style Loans - NY Times Dealbook - "Federal regulators on Thursday admonished some of the nation’s largest banks for offering payday-style loans, short-term costly credit tied to customers’ checking accounts."
• Google Think Insights: The Customer Journey to Online Purchase - "This tool helps you explore and understand the customer journey to improve your marketing programs."
• CGAP: Exploring Alternative API Product Concepts - "CGAP’s work in Applied Product Innovation (API) aims to understand how customer-centric design methodologies … could be tailored to branchless banking in order to achieve better financial service offerings for the poor."
• Medagate's health card combines incentives with functionality - Drug Store News - "...enables employers and health plans to combine a member/employee healthcare funding purse with a restricted-spend purse for targeted items and incentives…"
• Bank Customers Want A Seamless Experience (My Foot) - Snarketing 2.0 - "Consumers want things to work. Period."
• Banks use mobile phone history to determine credit rating - Springwise - "Cignifi’s new platform offers what it claims is the first to deliver credit and marketing scores for consumers without credit histories using mobile phone behavior data."
• Online Shopping, With Sales Tax Added - NY Times Bucks Blog - "Shoppers will now have to figure in sales tax when they are deciding whether it is better to buy a particular item online or in a brick-and-mortar store."
• The Mysterious World of Bitcoin: Does It Have Staying Power? - Knowledge @ Wharton - "Bitcoin has all the hallmarks of a classic speculative bubble..."
• Are QR codes losing their magnetism? - Mobile Marketer Daily - "Brands don't want to place a generic black and white box all over their creative…"
• Infographic: Mobile Devices Overtake Daily Life - "On average, people check their phones 150 times a day or every 6.5 minutes…"

On the wires:

• GateCrafters Now Offers Bill Me Later Payment Option - "We hope this option will give customers more peace of mind when purchasing big ticket items."
• Co-Op to Offer Enhanced Member Control of Cards Via New Mobile Card and Alert Product - "…the product to be offered by CO-OP will provide a range of services, including allowing members to set controls and alerts based on their preferences, such as transaction type, merchant, location and thresholds."
• Blackhawk Announces First Quarter 2013 Financial Results Consistent With Estimates Provided in Prospectus - "Demand for our prepaid products was strong during the first quarter as load value reached $1.6 billion, up 23% year-over-year..."
• Merchant Warehouse and LevelUp Announce $1 Million Development Fund - "LevelUp and Merchant Warehouse want to give more merchants the opportunity to extend the reach of their brand and tap into a wealth of customer data to help them grow their businesses."
• Accenture Survey Identifies Actions to Increase Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payments - "For mobile payments to achieve widespread adoption, consumers must be educated about the fact that mobile payments are secure and more convenient than other payment options."
• TSYS Merchant Solutions to launch TSYS Multi-Currency Solutions - "Pay in Your Currency, gives eligible international customers the choice of paying in their home currency at the point of sale, offering significant benefits to TSYS merchants and their customers."
• WorldPay, VeriFone Expand Efforts to Bring NFC/EMV-Ready Payment to Merchants - "VeriFone and WorldPay collaborate in crucial areas to deliver the right payment solutions to merchants…"

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) announced that it has published the PCI Mobile Payment Acceptance Security Guidelines for Merchants as End-Users.

"When considering mobile payment acceptance, merchants need to go in with their eyes open. And that’s what the intent of this guidance is, to help merchants understand the risks so that together with developers and device vendors they can safely implement a solution that will enable mobile commerce to flourish."

The guidance goes hand-in-hand with recommendations the Council published in September 2012 for mobile app developers and device vendors on designing appropriate security controls that provide secure mobile payment acceptance solutions for merchants.

On the web:

• Remittance Provider Xoom Closes First Day On NASDAQ Up 59% From IPO Price - TechCrunch
• Passbook Passes Now Support NFC… If You Use Them On Android - Cult of Android
• Ticketmaster To Offer Digital, Mobile Ticket Transfer - MobilePaymentsToday.com

On the wires:

• SIX Payment Services Is A Founding Member Of UnionPay International
• Finsphere Releases Key Findings Following Location-Based Analytics Trial

Glenbrook's Bryan Derman and Carol Coye Benson have published a white paper entitled, "Mobile Remote Commerce: Addressing the Challenges". The white paper explores the unique aspects of payment fraud in remote mobile commerce, and examines how Payfone combats this new form of fraud while streamlining mobile checkout for the buyer.

The freely-available white paper can be downloaded here.

FIS announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining 78% interest in mFoundry.

“mFoundry has a well-earned reputation for innovation, powerful vision and agile development and delivers one of the most advanced mobile platforms in the market today,” noted Gary Norcross, FIS president and chief operating officer. “Consumers have adopted the mobile channel faster than any other delivery channel in existence, and delivering industry-best mobile solutions is a vital focus area for FIS. Our goal is to provide the solutions that underpin an organization’s ability to best reach and serve its customers, and the addition of mFoundry plays a key role in that strategy.”

mFoundry's mobile platform has more than 850 clients including some of the largest banks, credit unions, payments processors, and retailers in the US. mFoundry built the original Starbucks Card mobile app.

Mobile wallet and transactions platform provider C-SAM and MasterCard have announced a global strategic partnership, as well as a minority investment by MasterCard.

“This partnership further strengthens our ongoing efforts to work with industry-leading companies to deploy our technologies and help drive innovation and adoption in the rapidly evolving digital payments space,” said Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer, MasterCard. “C-SAM’s proven track record and expertise in developing mobile platforms, combined with our worldwide network and suite of industry-leading payments solutions, will help enable us to deliver new, innovative solutions to a wide range of global customers.”

Visa and Chexar Networks announced today the launch of a network platform that will enable Visa prepaid users to deposit paper checks to their reloadable Visa prepaid card using their mobile device, by simply snapping a photo of a paper check.

“Consumers are choosing reloadable prepaid cards at an increasing rate, and for many of the same reasons that consumers embrace other electronic payment options — security, convenience and reliability,” said Hyung Choi, head of U.S. Prepaid, Visa Inc. “Mobile technology and other payment innovations are enabling us to enhance Visa’s prepaid experience and bring all the conveniences of traditional banking options to consumers who choose to use prepaid.”

Payfone has announced '1 Touch Checkout', a "new mobile commerce checkout solution that connects shoppers’ mobile identities with their payment instruments to enable the easiest, fastest and most secure mobile commerce checkout experience possible." Payfone also announced that CardinalCommerce has joined the Payfone Ecosystem as its channel partner.

On the web:

• The Trouble with QR Codes - Portals and Rails
• Footnote to Financial Crisis: More People Shun the Bank - WSJ.com
• Visa, MasterCard Swipe Deal Faces Retail Group Opposition - Bloomberg
• Isis Delays Launch Of Payment System, No Date Announced - GigaOM
• MasterCard, Linkable Networks Form Rewards Program Partnership - Bank Systems & Technology
• The iPhone 5 May Have Just Made Mobile Coupons Real - Adweek

On the wires:

• Altierre Announces NFC-Enabled Price Tags and Digital Signs
• Card-Linked Offer Provider edo Interactive Raises $15M Series C
• TSYS Poised for NFC Payment Solution With North American Partner
• Virtual Piggy Ty’s The Knot With The World’s Largest Online Plush Retailer
• Verifi Partners With Jumio to Fight Friendly Fraud
• BitPay Exceeds 1,000 Merchants Accepting Bitcoin
• MoneyGram Announces Australian Payout Service in China
• Deluxe SwitchAgent Service Allows Consumers to Quickly Switch Banks
• PSCU First CUSO to Offer Google Wallet to Credit Unions

On the web:

• Visa Europe Puts Brakes On iZettle - TechCrunch
• Shedding Light on Cloud Payments Risk Management - Portals and Rails
• Apple Buys Mobile Security Firm AuthenTec for $356 Million - Reuters
• ‎Visa's Interlink Volume Falls as Durbin Routing Provisions Take Effect - Digital Transactions
• ViVOtech Restructuring, Selling Reader Business - MobilePaymentsToday.com
• Flood of Competition Weighs on Prepaid-Card Companies - Wall Street Journal
• Global Payments Expects Its Data-Breach Tab Could Hit $120 Million - Digital Transactions
• E-Commerce vs. M-commerce (InfoGraphic) - BigCommerce

On the wires:

• British Retail Consortium Releases UK Payments Mix Study
• ROAM Data Introduces New Mobile Software Developer Kit
• AJB Software Accelerates EMV Migration for Retailers
• Merchant Warehouse Announces Acquisition of AVATAS Payment Solutions
• mopay Extends its Mobile Payments Portfolio in the Middle East & North African Region
• 2.5 Million MasterCard Debit Cards Issued to Social Welfare Beneficiaries in South Africa
• Chase and Marriott Rewards Launch the Only Hotel Rewards Card in Canada with No Foreign Currency Transaction Charges

There were a number of interesting reactions to yesterday's Passbook announcement from Apple. Glenbrook's own Scott Loftesness posted his take on the announcement over on Payments News. Jim Bruene, the creator of Finovate, took a look at Apple's new mobile wallet and wondered if Passbook is friend or foe of the banking industry?

Apple today announced key features of iOS 6, including an wallet-like app called "Passbook" that will be used to hold "boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, loyalty cards, and more", all things that it refers to as "passes".

Quick summary of key features: The app uses 2D barcode technology to present passes to the merchant, merchants can update things like "available balance" and " current points" in the background, and geolocation technology is used for relevancy within the Passbook app.

Apple demonstrated how the available balanced on your Starbucks card would be updated automatically within Passbook upon completion of a purchase. In related news, Apple also announced they now have over 400 million cards on file in iTunes.

NCR has announced that it will provide new software that will allow consumers to initiate cash withdrawals from their bank accounts on mobile devices and then complete those transactions at an ATM by scanning a 2D barcode.

NCR Mobile Cash Withdrawal will make ATM transactions faster and more secure by removing cards and PINs from the process at the ATM. The entire transaction, while the consumer is in front of the ATM, can take less than 10 seconds.

This video at the NCR website pretty much explains how it would work. NCR is looking for beta partners.

Jumio has announced the release of its Mobile Software Development Kit (SDK).

The Netswipe Mobile Software Development Kit (SDK) is a fast and easy way to implement reliable credit card capturing into mobile apps. There is no need for extra hardware, and it is available for iOS. Android will follow soon.

Jumio also announced they are giving away $5 Million worth of scanning fees to support young Start-ups and the developer community.

Flint Mobile announced the Beta launch of its first offering, a mobile POS app for small businesses on-the-go, as well as the close of its $3 million Series A.

"Flint will be a game changer in the world of mobile payments for small businesses," said Alex Mendez, Founding Managing Director of Storm Ventures. "They have created a simple approach that couples payments and social marketing to provide a huge leap forward for the mobile small businesses that form the backbone of our economy. The Flint team consists of seasoned executives who have created market-leading products, and we're very excited to be teaming up with them."

More info is available at www.flintmo.com.

Visa has made a series of announcement over the last several days at the Mobile World Congress 2012 to shore up its position in the ever changing mobile payments industry.

• Vodafone and Visa Announce Mobile Payments Partnership

• Visa and Intel Form Strategic Alliance to Advance Mobile Commerce

• New Visa Service Provides Secure “Over the Air” Provisioning of Mobile Payment Accounts

• Visa and Samsung Reveal Mobile Payments Application for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Chase has announced that it has invested in GoPago, a provider of a mobile payments service that allows consumers to remotely browse, order, and pay for local goods and services.

“Chase is committed to giving consumers and businesses a great shopping experience, leveraging the latest advances in mobile payment technologies,” said Jack Stephenson, director of mobile, e-commerce and payments at Chase. “GoPago will allow us to create powerful new value propositions for businesses and consumers.”

ThreatMetrix announced the launch of a new mobile software development kit (SDK) that helps identify fraudulent transactions originating from mobile applications. "The new product, called TrustDefender Mobile, expands on ThreatMetrix’s already established malware detection and cookieless device identification technology for laptops and desktop computers. The same risk-based fraud screening capability that is available to browser-based transactions is now available to mobile applications."

Over on Payments Views, Glenbrook's Russ Jones blogs about "Who Knows What In Payments?" and the explores whether or not the targeting of ads and offers can be enhanced with insight from payment transaction data. He also looks at what mobile wallets will know about the consumer's purchase behavior.

Clingle has announced the launch of Clingle Gifts, a feature that lets users to send gift cards instantly from an iPhone while attaching a personalized video, audio or text message.

“We’ve taken check-in technology one step further by incorporating the spontaneity and creativity that comes with surprising a friend or loved one,” said Sonpreet Bhatia, co-founder of MyCityWay, the company behind Clingle. “The new gifting feature allows users to leave a thoughtful gesture at the right place at the right time, but with a far more personal twist. As a first of its kind mobile ‘thank you,’ the recipient can send a cling with a multimedia message, such as a picture of what they purchased with the gift card, as opposed to a traditional email or phone call.”

On the web:

• Zynga launches rewards program with Citi - VentureBeat
• PayPal On Barriers To Google Wallet: Mass Adoption Of NFC Is Years Away - TechCrunch
• Capital One Pays to Play in Zynga's Virtual World - NetBanker
• Sequoia-Backed 'Stripe' Wants To Disrupt The Online Payments Space - TechCrunch
• Gold ATM Machine Activated in China, 2,000 more to be Installed - Digital Journal
• PayPal To Open A Pop-Up Store In New York To Showcase New Payments Technologies - TechCrunch
• Mobile ATMs: Banks on Wheels - The Financial Brand

On the wires:

• MoBeam Closes Initial Venture Round
• Failsafe Payments Adds UseMyServices to CertoConnect
• Transact Network Live with Visa Europe

On the web:

• Google Taps George Costanza as 'Google Wallet' Pitchman (Video) - PCMag.com
• MasterCard Defends Google Wallet Ahead of Its Official Launch - AllThingsD
• Carriers Increasingly Laying Claim on Android Market through Direct Billing - telecoms.com
• Turkcell Ramps Up Mobile Payments Technology - NFCNews

On the wires:

• Bottomline Technologies’ Paymode-X Network Reaches 150,000 Vendors
• Visa’s Yearly Payments Volume in Latin America and the Caribbean Grew to 26.2%
• E-Debit Global Corporation Launches Proprietary Mobile Payments Platform
• eLayaway Connected to 14 Million Consumers, Including Military Families and Federal Employees
• BillShrink Changes Its Name to Truaxis
• Fiserv to Produce Personalized EMV Cards
• FleetCor Enters Mexican Fuel Card Market

C-SAM has announced it has licensed its wallet management platform and software development kit (SDK) to Isis to support the Isis Mobile Commerce Platform. "The C-SAM platform will enable Isis to offer smartphone users a comprehensive mobile wallet for conducting secure near-field-communication (NFC) transactions related to payments, rewards, coupons, tickets, transit and other services."

NXP Semiconductors, AuthenTec, and DeviceFidelity have announced they are jointly developing reference designs that enable highly secure mobile payments via Android-based phones through the use of fingerprint biometrics and near field communication (NFC) technology. "Reference designs created by the companies are expected to help mobile phone OEMs and wireless carriers address the growing demand for NFC-capable smart phones."