wallet

MasterCard highlights mobile payments

NEW YORK--It's been a long time coming, but the mobile-payment revolution may finally be here.

MasterCard, one of the major credit card issuers eyeing the market for years, is set to launch its service in the U.S. with partner Google. The company is the exclusive credit card issuer for the launch of Google Wallet, a digital-wallet application for Google Android phones.

Google Wallet lets people store credit card information, gift cards, and loyalty cards in a digital format on their phones. And using short range wireless technology known as near field communications, or NFC, it allows people to … Read more

My dot-matrix-camouflaged Mighty Wallet: Just don't throw it out if you find it

Pulling my dot-matrix Mighty Wallet out of my pocket, I might look like I'm living life with dollar bills stuck into an old piece of '80s printer paper. I like that. I just hope no one throws it out.

Searching for a backup wallet to replace one from a vacation I just took, I wandered down to Urban Outfitters and found this enticingly ridiculous, and ugly, dot-matrix wallet. It's a design only a geek could love. The green-and-white paper complete with tractor holes looks picture-perfect, only this wallet's not made of standard paper. Mighty Wallets are made of Tyvek, that same tear- and water-resistant material that's used in mailing envelopes and water-park wristbands. They've been around since 2005, but this is the first time I'd ever seen one.… Read more

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile to pump cash into Isis venture

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T- Mobile USA plan to invest an additional $100 million into their mobile payment joint venture, Isis, to help get the project off the ground more quickly, Bloomberg reported Monday.

According to Bloomberg's unnamed sources familiar with the joint venture, the investment is contingent on whether Isis, which was developed to turn cell phones into payment devices, could sign up additional banks and merchants.

A spokesman for Isis declined to comment on the rumors.

The joint venture, formed in November, has been somewhat slow to get off the ground. But the additional funding … Read more

Visa vs. Google Wallet in mobile payments

The digital wallet wars have begun. And credit card giant Visa and search behemoth Google are likely to be among the first to face off in the market as they each try to convince consumers to ditch their real wallets for ones that store credit cards and other information on their cell phones.

In May, Visa and Google announced separately their plans to offer a so-called digital wallet or an application that stores credit card and rewards information to enable people to use their phones to pay for things.

The hope is that these digital wallets in conjunction with near-field communications technology, … Read more

PayPal exec: It won't be easy to compete with us

Companies hopping into the payments business--with particular focus on mobile--will face unexpected challenges as PayPal did in its early days, according to an executive for the digital payments service provider.

"Being in the payments business is harder than saying you're in the payments business," Sam Shrauger, vice president of global product and design for PayPal, said in an interview with CNET today.

While not naming any specific companies, his warning was clearly leveled at players such as Google, which recently unveiled its Google Wallet feature and plans to roll out a payment system in select cities later … Read more

PayPal shows off mobile tap-to-pay

PayPal on Wednesday showed off the ability to transfer money and pay by tapping two phones together as it looks to secure its role in the burgeoning mobile-payments area.

PayPal's senior director of mobile operations, Laura Chambers, demonstrated the tap-and-pay move at the MobileBeat conference in San Francisco by placing together two Nexus S smartphones (see video below). The phones are equipped with a near-field communications, or NFC chip, which allows for a quick transmission of information--in this case data about the amount of money transferred. The transfer happens through a special PayPal widget.

The demonstration shows PayPal is … Read more

Eric Schmidt: Mobile payments at retail to explode

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is bullish on the growth of mobile payments in the coming year.

Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity today, Schmidt said he believes one-third of all restaurants and retail outlets will allow for mobile payments within the next year, the Financial Times reports him as saying. He reportedly told those in attendance that that number should be enough for widespread adoption of mobile payments.

"I judge that based on how long I think it takes, because the terminals are available now, the software is available now or this summer," the … Read more

Best of Buzz Out Loud 3: Week of 5-23-11 Lady Gaga, Google Wallet and Windows Phone. (Podcast)

This week on our roundup of best BOL moments, Lady Gaga downloads overwhelm Amazon, location-specific results and app integration from Windows Phone and the age of MoLo is upon us!

Android Atlas Weekly 51: Happy birthday, dear Android Atlas! (Podcast)

Android Atlas is one year old! We celebrate by doing the same thing we do every week, discussing the latest Android news. The new Google Wallet may already have a security hole and malware is becoming an issue for the platform. Meanwhile, game developers say that Android is to PC gaming what iOS is to consoles. Holy fragmentation, Batman! Does that mean that apps should now carry system requirements? In other news, Nvidia shows off its ambitiously named Project Kal-El and we overstep dual cores, going straight to quads! All of that, plus the answers to your Android OS questions … Read more

The 404 830: Where sorry does not put the crackers in our stomachs (podcast)

It's graduation time for college students, but today we're exploring an offer from Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel to give a $100,000 fellowship to students who drop out and start their own company. He argues that people under 20 can learn more useful real-world skills at a start-up than at a university, where they'll ultimately leave in massive debt.

We're also offering tips on how to shop at Costco, the dropping prices of external media cards, the return of The 404 Audio Draft in a new Web site Outloud.fm, life lessons to be learned from Adam Sandler's "Billy Madison," and a couple of rules for leaving a voice mail on our show.

Have a fun (and safe!) Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

The 404 Digest for Episode 830

Google Wallet debuts, PayPal sues. PayPal co-founder offers $100,000 fellowship to students to quit college. Kingmax unveils world's first 64GB microSD card. Follow Jeff, Justin, Wilson, and The 404 Podcast on Twitter!

Episode 830 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more