News Byte

MasterCard and Samsung Team Up for NFC Payments in Australia

MasterCard is partnering with Samsung to bring tap-to-pay functionality to Australian shoppers who own a Samsung Galaxy S4 and have the Commonwealth Bank of Australia app loaded on their phone. The payment method can be used by tapping the phone against NFC terminals that support MasterCard’s PayPass technology, with no need to open an app.

In Battle for E-Commerce Dollars, Free Shipping Is Payment Networks’ Weapon of Choice

Call it the Amazon Prime Effect.
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What’s in Your Digital Wallet? Lucrative Data

Firms feud over access to details on transactions as new apps replace plastic.

Foursquare Opens Up Check-In Deals to More Kinds of Plastic

Put it on the card.

News Byte

mFoundry Acquired for $120 Million in Cash for Its Mobile Banking Tech

The original developer behind the Starbucks mobile application, mFoundry, has been acquired by FIS, which already owned a 22 percent stake in the company. FIS said it will pay $120 million in cash for the remaining stake, meaning the entire deal was worth around $165 million. Other investors in the nine-year-old company include MasterCard, Intel Capital, Motorola Mobility, PayPal, Bank of America and Ignition Partners. MFoundry had 850 clients, many of which were banks that deployed the company’s technology inside of their mobile apps.

One Less Groupon Clone: J.P. Morgan Chase Acquires Bloomspot

J.P. Morgan Chase is acquiring Bloomspot, one of the smaller daily deals companies in the U.S.

When Does Groupon — Still at More Than 80 Percent Off — Become a Deal for Someone?

If Groupon chooses to look for a buyer, this may be its hardest sale yet.

Visa’s PayPal-Like Wallet Gains Traction With Partners; Will Consumers Follow?

Visa has started marketing its digital wallet service to consumers in earnest, now that it has signed up 50 banks and 23 merchants for V.me.

Another Square Copycat: Bank of America Launches Mobile Payments

Bank of America’s new mobile payment solution is a little larger and not quite Square, but operates a lot like the one being distributed by the Silicon Valley start-up.

Groupon Promising Merchants “Lowest Cost” Payments Service (And It’s Using an iPhone)

Groupon hopes the service launching today will make credit cards both easier and cheaper to accept for those running deals on its network.