News Byte
Tricia Duryee in Mobile on May 9 at 4:30 am PT
Flint Mobile said it has raised $3 million in a first round of capital, and that it is launching its new mobile payments app, which enables merchants to process payments with a mobile phone. But rather than requiring a merchant to buy a card reader, the app allows the merchant to snap a picture of a credit card. The round, which will be used on product development and hiring, was led by Storm Ventures and True Ventures.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on April 9 at 9:55 am PT
To the contrary, Sephora is encouraging customers to use their phones in the store to help them shop.
News Byte
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 9 at 7:00 pm PT
Intuit will soon launch its mobile credit-card reader in Canada, beating the well-funded-and-recognized
Square to the market. Both companies distribute devices that allow small-scale merchants to accept credit cards on a cellphone or tablet; so far, Square only operates in the U.S. Intuit, the publicly held company that sells other small-business resources, such as QuickBooks, said its GoPayment device will be available in Canada early this year; it plans to push into other international markets in the future.
Tricia Duryee in Mobile on December 27, 2011 at 10:07 am PT
A record number of applications were downloaded on Dec. 25, making it a very “appy” Christmas for at least some mobile developers.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on August 1, 2011 at 5:30 am PT
Verizon Wireless is announcing a partnership with American Express that will enable its 100-million-plus mobile subscribers to pay for goods online using their phone numbers.
John Paczkowski in Mobile on March 29, 2011 at 8:55 am PT
Nokia’s obsession with Apple has officially crossed over into the Ahabian. Aghast at the U.S. International Trade Commission’s ruling on its first complaint against Apple, Nokia has filed a second, accusing Apple of infringing its patents “in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players, tablets, and computers.”
Liz Gannes in Social on February 9, 2011 at 10:53 pm PT
I last wrote about Bubble Motion, provider of the Bubbly mobile messaging service, exactly a year ago. At the time, the company had 150,000 users. Today, it has more than seven million.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 7, 2011 at 8:46 am PT
From the San Francisco Chronicle offices where some of the newspaper’s local ad sales used to be, we caught up with Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and CEO of Square, who wants to redefine the payments process.
John Paczkowski in Mobile on May 21, 2010 at 11:18 am PT
A word of warning to AT&T subscribers who would switch carriers when the company’s iPhone exclusivity deal with Apple finally ends: The cost of doing so will soon rise–substantially. Come June 1, AT&T is raising its early-termination fee on smartphones to $325 from $175.
John Paczkowski in Mobile on May 13, 2010 at 2:12 pm PT
It has been almost three years since Apple’s iPhone arrived at market, and Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, has still failed to develop a worthy rival to it. Will the company ever figure this out or will it continue to play a slow game of catch-up in the smartphone market?
