Apple received serious flak for its disastrous rollout of Apple Maps two years ago (read more about that here), and has finally wised up by allowing businesses to claim and alter their listings on the brand’s eponymous mapping service. After logging-in with an Apple ID, business owners are then encouraged to go in and create or claim a business listing. Existing listings are pulled from Yelp, and can then be selected for ownership. After verifying the location’s phone number, the owner can then add details or correct an already-available listing. - See more at: http://www.tnooz.com/article/apple-maps-connect-gives-businesses-control-listings-way-register-ibeacons/#sthash.CTB1UTlx.dpuf

The Perkwave mobile application  has teamed up with Apple Pay to bring quick payment options to customers of a slew of local restaurants including the Crown & Anchor Pub in Las Vegas, NV, Café Vico in Fort Lauderdale, FL and The Grille in San Diego, CA. With the multitude of restaurants beginning rollouts of mobile payments and rewards platforms within apps, Perkwave, developed by point of sale system Harbortouch, aims to make dining easier for patrons of local restaurants with its built-in loyalty functions.

Imagine you’re walking down the organic-products aisle at your favorite grocery store when suddenly the store’s app on your phone notifies you that a new line of organic foods is now available. That can actually possible thanks to iBeacon technology, and 500 Startups-backed Rover wants to make that possible with its software-development kit (SDK). As the startup describes its own place in the chain, it’s the piece sitting right in between the iBeacons, an Apple-developed technology for indoor proximity sensing, and a brick-and-mortar retailer’s app.

Over the weekend I was hit with a deluge of advertising from banks and credit card companies encouraging me to get ready for the wonder that is Apple Pay. It seemed odd to me that big-name financial institutions would be falling all over themselves to promote a service which hasn't yet launched and isn't exclusive to them. But there are actually three very good reasons for the big players in banking and credit to be shoving their way to the front of the line on your Apple Pay. First off, banks are keen to have their customers use a digital wallet …

NEW smartphone technology designed to increase sales and "enhance the brand experience" has been created by a Worcester company. Creative design and digital agency Ventutec, based in Queen Street, has launched its iBeacon technology platform after receiving funds from the Proof of Concept programme, managed by Worcestershire Business Central. Designed to provide "contextually rich mobile solutions" iPyrids are small hardware devices, known as iBeacons, which are placed around a physical venue such as a shop, auditorium or museum.

Canadian retailers may be in for a turbulent holiday season. Price wars and consumers skittish about mobile and e-commerce may put retailers under significant strain this year during the months of November and December. The growing prevalence of mobile commerce, in particular, may make it harder for some retailers to find traction with many people. These retailers have been investing heavily in their mobile infrastructure, but they may not see returns due to the fact that many consumers are not yet comfortable with the idea of shopping online with a mobile device.

Mobile payments startup Sign2Pay has come up as a new challenger in the mobile commerce space. It is implementing mobile payments by using your actual signature. Some unique identifiers in the user’s personal signature are used to authorize a transaction. This new payment method was developed by Belgian Telenet with the help of the Idea Labs accelerator program. The company officially launched the new payment method at the TechCrunch Disrupt event in London. Sign2Pay wants to simplify the mobile shopping experience by doing away with bank card readers. It has incorporated support for accounts of more than 3,700 European banks. 

Most Americans prefer to schedule personal appointments by using mobile applications, email, text messaging or Web sites, a Google Consumer Survey shows, reflecting the increasing use of mobile in daily activities. The study, commissioned by PencilAppoint.com, an appointment-scheduling Web site and app, also showed that almost a third of Americans would like to use mobile apps, e-mail or text messages to confirm appointments with their dentists and doctors.

Not too long ago, “showrooming” was a subject that left retailers on edge, maybe even scared. That’s not the case today, even though 72 percent of consumers are showrooming. That’s because 62 percent of those shoppers start their research on that retailer’s website or app, according to eBay Head of Retail Innovation Healey Cypher. Better yet, 78 percent of shoppers have researched products on their laptops or mobile devices before heading to a store to make a purchase — a practice called “webrooming.”

Android may still be the most popular mobile OS in China, but local e-commerce giant Alibaba Group continues to offer its own alternative, and has just landed its biggest partner yet. Chinese smartphone maker Meizu will use Alibaba’s YunOS mobile operating system to power its own handsets, it announced Tuesday. Previously, Meizu ran a customized version of Android called Flyme OS on its smartphones, but said Alibaba’s software could offer better security and performance, including longer battery life.