The very first mobile electronic payment system was patented back in 1995 by Gaston Schwabacher, and ever since then the end of the traditional wallet has been near. Today, the way technology stands and seems to be currently progressing, the demise of the wallet has never been so imminent. Could this be heralded as the start of a brand new age of monetary transactions? These amazing products seem to think so. Tired of carrying around debit cards, credit cards, gift cards, and all your other pieces of plastic? Well, with Coin, you only have to carry one. This San Francisco-based startup …

Apple has invented dozens of gestures, most recently the gestures we all use on our iOS devices. Apple has been very successful in choosing to edit gestures to the most natural and basic elements. Over the years Apple applied for and were granted a number of patents related to these gestures. As the iWallet takes shape, we will see what is sure to be a new gesture that will be used to pay for a transaction. This element will be just a small part of the entire process that will include a very unique vibration along with a well conceived …

Apple and longtime partner Disney this week are bolstering their stores with upgraded versions of iBeacon sensors and NFC readers, according to sources. Apple Stores have had iBeacons stationed throughout showroom floors for several months as a way to pinpoint exactly where a customer is within the store. This allows Apple to better serve customers by providing relevant sales information to their iPhones and iPads while in the store. The upgrades happening this week within Apple Stores place several new Gimbal Series 20 Proximity Beacons across stores to make location tracking within the store even more accurate.

Procter & Gamble’s Olay is embracing image-recognition platform Blippar and its augmented reality capabilities to promote the brand's Fresh Effects products with print ads in a number of beauty magazines, such as Hearst’s Seventeen and Elle magazines. Marketers have been experimenting with numerous mobile tools to revamp their print ads for the past several years. Olay’s ad features conversion capabilities to encourage viewers to obtain a free skin consultation via the app and then proceed to buy the products.

Indications that McDonald’s could be ready to launch a near field communications mobile payments platform in two weeks signal that, after trials in other countries and parts of the United States, the world’s largest restaurant chain finally feels it is able to get a much-demanded service right. An internal memo sent to McDonald’s franchises this week informed employees that they must be trained on the near-field communication (NFC) payment systems by Monday, Sept. 15, by which time the hardware must be installed and tested. 

The smartphone has always been damned (and rightfully so) as the most difficult device on which to complete a purchase. Soon, however, it may become the easiest. PayPal this week rolled out One Touch, a new mobile payments feature that allows a consumer with a PayPal account that is linked to her mobile device to complete a purchase on that device literally with just one touch, something Amazon.com Inc. mobile customers have been able to do for years.

THE initial public offering of shares in Alibaba, due shortly on the New York Stock Exchange, may raise more than $20 billion, making it one of the biggest IPOs on record, and value the Chinese e-commerce firm at $150 billion or more. But is it worth it? There are certainly reasons to believe so. The firm dominates online shopping in China, which has passed America to become the world’s biggest e-commerce market. In terms of gross sales, Alibaba is bigger than eBay and Amazon combined. And unlike Amazon, Alibaba makes significant profits. Bolstering the case for optimism is the firm’s …

Apple reportedly has reached deals to lower its card transaction fees with five of the largest financial institutions in the nation as part of the Silicon Valley giant’s to-be-launched payments venture. The financial institutions are American Express, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Capital One, and Bank of America. We’ve reached out to all parties involved and all declined to comment. Rumors about the deals were first made public by Tom Noyes, a financial technology investor and former head of channels at Citi, and confirmed by Bank Innovation sources.

In honor of the recent anniversary of rock 'n' roll legend Elvis Presley's death, Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, has introduced a new interactive multimedia iPad tour that taps iBeacon technology to enhance visitors' experiences. The move puts Graceland at the forefront of a select group of businesses that are embracing this new technology as part of their marketing strategy. Throughout the tour, the iPads use beacons to deliver immediate location-based content, including audio recordings, videos, and photos, enabling guests to dive deeper into the story of Presley's life. Meanwhile, Graceland is also offering a separate iPad youth tour, which features …

Shopping on mobile phones and tablets has overtaken desktop retail traffic for the first time, in a landmark shift in consumer habits. Mobile commerce accounts for 52% of traffic to retail websites, while 36% of UK online sales are made on mobile devices, which grows to 40% for fashion websites, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Report