BlackBerry continues to forge ahead despite no shortage of setbacks and lingering obstacles down the mobile path. On Thursday, the Canadian smartphone maker confirmed that it will enhance the mobile payment capabilities for users of BBM, the private social network available for smartphones running Android, BlackBerry, iOS or Windows Phone.

Tesco, a multinational retailer of groceries and general merchandise, has announced trials of a mobile payment service for customers via the PayQwiq service. Trials are occurring in a small number of stores in London and Edinburgh, and are currently only available to staff members. Tesco claims that initial responses are positive, and hopes for the mobile payments to continue bolstering its shopping experience for customers.

Following Apple's recent announcement of the iPhone 6's mobile payment feature, Apple Pay, experts from both the public and private sector gave positive predictions for the outlook of mobile commerce in Hong Kong at a conference in the city yesterday. Apple announced its much anticipated iPhone 6 on September 9, and unveiled Apple Pay, a new mobile payment function which uses near field communication (NFC) technology, which has previously been used in Octopus cards and contactless payment cards. Visa, which sponsored the conference, is one of the companies partnering with Apple on Apple Pay, along with Mastercard and American Express.

When people think of Japan they tend to conjure up a variety of images in their minds – sumo wrestling, Hello Kitty, capsule hotels, and the infamous scenes of the movie Lost in Translation.  But another area synonymous with Japan is mobile phones. When I moved to Japan in 2006, the way in which Japanese people were using their phones was so advanced that at that time, it positioned Japan as the top market globally for mobile technology, user behavior, and receptivity of mobile devices. 

The world is becoming increasingly mobile-centric. A growing number of people are basing their lives heavily on mobile technology, using smartphones and tablets in their daily lives. As mobile devices continue to establish themselves as an integral part of modern society, the demand for mobile services and engagement is on the rise. Consumers want to be able to shop online with their mobile devices while also being able to make payments for goods and services from these devices at physical locations. The value of mobile commerce is primarily financial. The mobile payments market is expected to reach $3.2 trillion in value by …

Yes, yes, you can use your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus to pay for merchandise in stores by merely touching the home button while you’re near a cash register. Huge ramifications for the slumbering mobile payments market. But there’s something else happening that could have a far greater impact on e-retail, for all merchants, not just those with physical stores. Earlier this year, Apple Inc. reached out to companies with highly successful mobile apps and asked them if they would like to be the first to integrate into their apps one-touch checkout via Apple Pay and the iPhone 6 and 6 …

As the future of payments becomes increasingly mobile and digital, moving away from simple, static password-based authentication and towards more advanced methods that will improve security, as well as enable frictionless commerce, has become a stretch goal for the commerce sector. Samsung and Alipay, the largest third-party online payment provider in China, are gearing up to do their part with the launch the first Fast IDentification Online (FIDO)-Ready authentication ecosystem in the Far East. Alipay offers payment and escrow services for transactions on Alibaba Group’s marketplaces as well as to third parties in China. It plans to enable secure online payments via the …

Mobile commerce continues to grow exponentially in Asia. For retail marketers, that means they must develop an effective and transactional mobile presence. China is leading the way when it comes to mobile retail, according to Mintel's latest report, which found that a whopping 94 percent of those surveyed own a smartphone and regularly use it to make purchases, redeem coupons, and send gifts. But despite the overall optimistic outlook for the growth of mobile retail in Asia, Mintel has some words of caution for retailers themselves, claiming they lack full commitment to new and innovative applications of online technology. 

It was a deep linking “experiment” in mobile advertising that wasn’t well received. Over the summer, people in San Francisco researching restaurant options on their mobile devices received an unusual surprise. When users came across a mobile ad for the hugely popular reservations stalwart OpenTable, and clicked on the link to download the app, they were instead taken to an AppLovin screen that offered not killer deals at their eatery…but one hawking mobile game downloads for money.

Online wedding registry Zola is taking advantage of the release of iOS 8 by integrating gift tracking and Web capabilities to its mobile application. Zola continues to climb the charts as it has aimed to reinvent the wedding registry arena by channeling mobile and has seen as much as 50 percent growth from month to month. Following its initial launch in October 2013, the brand climbed the ranks and now sits in the number three spot in the wedding registry category on the App Store.