payments
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Apple Pay now works with Squarespace sites
If you have a Squarespace site that you're using to sell your wares, your online store can now accept Apple Pay via the iPhone and the upcoming macOS Sierra. Now visitors can buy stuff without digging out their credit card.
Facebook Messenger chatbots now support payments
The latest version of Facebook Messenger adds a new feature to the 30,000 or so chatbots that currently inhabit its platform. Starting today with version 1.2, those Messenger bots can now accept payments directly in the chat without sending users to an external website.
Android Pay hits the web via Chrome
Android Pay is about to work in many, many more places. As promised, Google is bringing Android Pay to the web. If you use Chrome to shop at online stores like 1-800-Flowers and Groupon, you can soon rely on Android's official mobile payment system to check out faster and more securely than usual (it doesn't share account info with stores, for one thing). Also, you may want to get in the habit of using Android Pay if you're fond of ridesharing. It's the first mobile wallet to tie into Uber's Payment Rewards program, giving you discounts when you use Android Pay. Uber is marking the occasion with a US promo that gives travelers half of 10 of their rides when they use Android Pay with the service.
PayPal's Mastercard deal brings its payments to more stores
PayPal wants to be your go-to payment option online and in stores, but it has a problem: banks and credit cards aren't a fan of its free bank transfers and other attempts to push online payment over the conventional variety. However, it's trying to make amends. In the wake of a Visa deal from July, PayPal has forged a partnership with Mastercard that gives the credit card firm higher prominence online in return for more of a retail footprint. PayPal will make Mastercard a "clear and equal" payment choice in its wallet (complete with an image of your card), let you set the card as a default payment method and will "not encourage" you to link a bank account if you're a Mastercard customer. In exchange, you can use a linked Mastercard in your PayPal wallet to make in-store purchases at contact-free terminals.
Venmo opens up third-party app support to all
After allowing a limited number of customers to try out a special beta offering Venmo support with third-party apps in January, Venmo is now allowing all its users to pay for things in the same manner. In fact, starting tomorrow, July 27th, you'll be able to use Venmo for a whole lot more.
Etsy's payment system is causing major problems for merchants
Etsy is one of those excellent bastions of the internet in which you can find essentially anything you want to purchase homemade by a talented creator. Unfortunately, it's going through some very serious payment processing issues at the moment, and causing problems for merchants and customers alike.
Walmart Pay arrives in 14 more states (update)
When Walmart talked about a wide national release of its mobile payment service before the start of July, it wasn't kidding around. Walmart Pay has launched in 14 more states on top of a slew of rollouts earlier in the month -- it's not quite ubiquitous (we count 33 states plus Washington, DC), but it's close. This latest deployment includes heavily populated states like California, New York and Washington, so you're far more likely to use your Android phone or iPhone to shop at the big-box retail chain.
Barclays launches its answer to Android Pay
Ever since Barclays publicly shunned Android Pay in favour of its own NFC payment platform, the bank has kept pretty quiet over when you can use its Contactless Mobile service. But today, and without much fanfare, Barclays announced that Android users with a supported phone can now make NFC payments with the Barclays Mobile Banking app. It supports payments up to £100 and works everywhere a standard contactless card can be used.
Microsoft brings mobile payments to your Windows 10 phone
Windows 10 users have been left out of the tap-to-pay trend while their friends use the likes of Android Pay and Apple Pay, but they're about to catch up in style. If you're a Windows Insider in the Fast Ring and use a Lumia 650, 950 or 950 XL, you can get a new version of the Wallet app that gives you NFC payments at stores that support it. It'll seem mostly familiar if you've used current Android or iOS options -- it's just a matter of unlocking your phone and bringing it close to the shop's terminal. The app will hold your coupons, loyalty cards and passes, too.
Turkish law forces PayPal to suspend operations in the country
Turkey and the tech world's relationship is infamously contentious, and the country has crippled another company: PayPal. Starting this June 6th, the secure payment service is closing up shop, according to a statement (Turkish) spotted by TechCrunch. Paypal users in the country will be able to transfer any balances to a Turkish bank account after that, but that's about it. Sending and receiving money -- you know, PayPal's main attraction -- via the service will be off the table.
Samsung Pay now works with your loyalty cards in the US
Samsung Pay can substitute for your credit and debit cards, but those probably aren't the only hunks of plastic you're looking to replace. What about the points program card for the grocery store, or the discount card for the pharmacy? Relax. Samsung Pay now supports loyalty and membership cards in the US, so you can make the most of those price drops and freebies without bulking up your wallet.
Fitbit buys Coin to help with mobile payments
Fitbit is purchasing (almost all of) Coin, the payments startup that developed a universal credit card replacement. The world's biggest maker of wearable technology can now leverage Coin's know-how and integrate NFC-based commerce to its hardware. Fitbit has already said that there are "no plans" to integrate Coin's setup into the products it'll launch in 2016, so you can be damn sure it'll be there for 2017. It's not going to be a big leap for either party, as Coin was working on some form of payments watch earlier this year. At the time, it had signed up Atlas Wearables, Omate and Moov, as well as MasterCard to handle the processing.
Samsung team-up aims to improve your mobile payments
If you've ever tried paying with your phone at a store, you know that the experience is often only as good as the payment reader -- a sketchy terminal could lead to you pulling out a credit card in embarrassment. Samsung thinks the industry can do better, though. It's partnering with some of the larger point-of-sale device makers (such as Verifone and Ingenico) to guarantee "maximum compatibility and universal acceptance" for Samsung Pay. The hope is that this will boost the adoption of mobile payments simply by giving you a better time when you tap-to-pay, with fewer errors that make you rethink the whole concept.
PayPal Credit comes to the UK with interest-free plans
PayPal wants to be the method that everyone naturally defers to when buying goods and services online. Instead of grabbing your debit or credit card, the aim to make you naturally hit the PayPal button whenever you reach the checkout. To incentivise this, the company is rapidly expanding PayPal Credit in the UK, which helps you make purchases even when you don't have the funds in your bank account. You'll need to apply for the privilege online, but if you pass the company's credit check you can get zero percent interest on orders over £150 for the first four months.
Facebook preps in-store purchases for Messenger
Facebook already lets you send money to friends through its Messenger app, but it appears the social network has much loftier ambitions for financial transactions. The Information reports that Menlo Park is preparing to offer its chat app as another way to pay for things thanks to a feature for in-store purchases. Based on code for the iOS app, Facebook is working on a way for you to use Messenger to pay for goods in person. As The Information notes, this would put Zuckerberg & Co. in the mobile payments fray that includes Apple Pay, Android Pay and several others.
Barclays isn't planning to support Android Pay in the UK
If UK bank Barclays hadn't angered mobile customers enough over its delayed rollout of Apple Pay, a new announcement today looks take things up a notch. After Google declared that it will bring rival payment service Android Pay to the UK in the coming months, Barclays has gone on record to say it has no plans to support the platform. In a statement sent to Techradar, the company said: "At this stage we are not planning on participating in Android Pay in the UK."
Android Pay is coming to the UK 'in the next few months'
While iPhone users have been enjoying Apple Pay, Android adopters in the UK have been left twiddling their thumbs, or experimenting with alternatives like Barclays' bPay. Android Pay launched in the US last September, but Google has said little about a global rollout. Well, today that's finally changing. The search giant says its service will launch in Britain "soon," or specifically "in the next few months." It certainly won't be this month, anyway. Payments are handled over NFC, meaning the app will work anywhere that contactless payments are currently accepted. That includes Boots, Costa Coffee and the Tube network in London.
Google kicks off a public pilot for Hands Free mobile payments
Heads up, Silicon Valley residents: the days of pulling out your credit card to pay for Big Macs are numbered. Google just announced that the pilot program for its Hands Free payments scheme has gone live for certain stores in San Francisco's South Bay, so all you'll have to do is tell the cashier you're "Paying with Google." We're trying to figure out if there's a cap to how many people can sign up, but for now, it looks like all local residents need is an Android device running 4.2 or newer, or an iPhone 4S and newer.
Visa thinks your car should pay for its own fuel
The jury may still be out on the usefulness of the Internet of Things, but payments giant Visa is 100 percent sure it doesn't want to miss out. Today it announced plans to push Visa payments into numerous fields. We're talking "wearables, automobiles, appliances, public transportation services, clothing and almost any other connected device" -- basically, anything that can or will soon connect to the internet.
Samsung Pay racks up 5 million users in half a year
Samsung Pay is off to a promising start... if you ask Samsung, at least. The company reports that Samsung Pay picked up 5 million users in its first six months, handling over $500 million in purchases over that time frame. There's a "strong adoption rate" in both South Korea and the US, Samsung adds. That doesn't sound like a big number on a global scale, but Samsung is teasing a 2016 expansion that now includes Canada alongside already-announced arrivals in Australia, Brazil, China (now due in March), Singapore, Spain and the UK. The future sounds bright, then, although the figures leave some unanswered questions about whether or not Samsung can keep the momentum up.
