Thinaire has partnered with Verizon Terremark Cloud to support the growing interest from major brands and retailers to leverage near-field communication for mobile marketing engagements. NFC enables smartphone owners to engage with brands by simply waving their phone over content such as a poster or in-store sign. With the number of NFC-enabled marketing programs growing, Thinaire is leveraging the global presence of Verizon's Terremark Cloud to deliver NFC-powered shopping marketing programs on a greater scale than was previously possible.

Department store chain Neiman Marcus is driving traffic to its bricks-and-mortar locations and ecommerce site by promoting an ongoing sale through a mobile banner advertisement found on Cond Nast's Vanity Fair's mobile site. Neiman Marcus' banner ad is meant to publicize its sales effort while also allowing consumers to locate the nearest store. Mobile ads that drive purchases in addition to foot traffic can be beneficial for retailers to bring consumers into the store.

Isis, the Near Field Communications-based mobile commerce network spearheaded by Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS), is adding American Express' Serve digital commerce services to its mobile wallet, slated to roll out nationwide later this year. Serve, introduced in early 2011, consolidates multiple payment options into a single digital account that consumers can fund from their bank, debit or credit card account, or by receiving cash from another Serve user. By adding Serve to the Isis Wallet, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile subscribers with Isis-ready smartphones may complete tap-and-pay transactions at any NFC-enabled retail location that accepts …

Mobile could reverse the woes that have buffeted the British high street, with a series of features on handsets such as loyalty cards, vouchers and wallets finally on the verge of mainstream acceptance. After years of operators and banks trying to get mobile payments to take off, a new white paper published by GSMA has detailed the potential role to be played by NFC and related technologies in 'bolstering bricks and mortar stores and boosting local economies'. The telecoms organisation said former attempts to make the technology work were confusing and unpleasant to consumers. The only way it

E-commerce sites of all kinds have a new focus: mobile. One need only look at a few stats to see why. For instance, according to a report by Mobify, mobile web adoption is growing eight times faster than web adoption did in the 1990s; mobile traffic now accounts for 15% of all web traffic; 90% of people move between devices to accomplish things; U.S. mobile commerce sales hit $24.66 billion in 2012, up 81% from 2011; and 58% of consumers in North America now own a smartphone.

With the explosion in smartphones usage, the number of payments done via mobile devices has significantly increased over recent years. As eCommerce becomes mCommerce, the industry has to focus on payment security. During a 'card not present' process, a personal account number (PAN), expiration date, and card validation code (CVC) are not enough to completely secure a transaction. Biometrics that provide high levels of security and an intuitive customer experience might be the solution for secure mobile payments. "Protecting the mobile device itself is a first step, necessary to secure mobile payments. Although a personal identification number (PIN) can do …

Agile development shop Asynchrony has launched a new iOS and Android SDK for use in payment processing with Simplify Commerce by MasterCard. Simplify is a route for developers to code application functionality to accept e-commerce and mobile commerce payments, regardless of payment brand. Asynchrony says its developers built a graphical component and controller that focused on reliability, security, and stability. The SDKs, built using the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, had to ensure that the merchant never sees sensitive card data.

Groupon reported better-than-expected second-quarter sales, crediting its turnaround to the continued growth of its mobile commerce business: Close to half of the company's North American transactions are now completed on mobile devices, increasing from 30 percent in June 2012. Groupon posted revenues of $608.7 million in the second quarter, up 7 percent over the year-ago period. North American revenues grew 45 percent year-over-year, offset by a 24 percent decline in the EMEA region and a 26 percent slide across the rest of the world. Gross billings--which reflect the total dollar value of customer purchases of goods and services--increased 10 percent …

Kohl's is giving mobile a more prominent role in its back-to-school campaign this year with a promotion that rewards consumers for shopping in-store and online. The "Win Great Things" sweepstakes doles out online game pieces that consumers can use to win prizes for shopping at Kohl's. Kohl's ran the campaign last year as well, but has increased the prizes and the role of mobile this year through SMS.

While the advent of mobile money in other African countries has proven it is both lucrative and valuable to society, it remains a largely untapped market in SA, due to the proprietary mind-set of the parties involved. This is according to managing executive for mobile commerce at Vodacom, Herman Singh, former head of Standard Bank's Beyond Payments division and the man recently tasked with the resurrection of the cellphone network's financial services platform.