For awhile now, there's been a number of companies trying to simplify payments for everyone. Google did so with Wallet and, most recently, Apple announced it would be doing something similar with the soon-to-be-launched Apple Pay, among others. Not surprisingly, MasterCard's, synonymous with paying for stuff, is working on a product of its own. In partnership with Zwipe, a company that focuses on biometric tech, MasterCard has built a charge plate with a built-in fingerprint sensor and NFC, albeit for trial purposes. The Zwipe MasterCard, as it is currently known, is said to be extremely secure -- all data is stored directly on the card, rather than an outside database

Roughly one month after we first saw a demo of Tim Cook scanning an iPhone at a cash register to buy stuff, Apple Pay has arrived for the rest of us to check out. But before you go blowing your entire paycheck on everything from big handbags to Big Macs, there are a few things to keep in mind about the platform. Read on to learn more about how Apple Pay works, how to get your iPhone ready for it, and most importantly, where you can go test it out yourself.  

Exactly a year after it launched a mobile app, Amazon India gets half its traffic from smartphones. "The significance of mobiles is much higher in India than anywhere else as most of first time internet users will come on the mobile," says Amit Agarwal, country manager and vice president, Amazon India. "The mobile will be the first point of contact for customers here." Flipkart.com, the poster boy of e-commerce, now prefers to be called a mobile or m-commerce company.   

Simon Malls is featuring the Ziploop mobile shopping application in its malls across the United States to augment the holiday shopping process for consumers. Ziploop, referred to as a mobile shopping organizer app, allows shoppers to easily organize their shopping activities across mobile devices. It stores all gift cards, coupons and certificates on tablets, smartphones or desktops.

With the launch of the Apple Pay mobile payment system on Monday, many experts will be watching to gauge its potential success. As with all things Apple, though, Apple Pay is certainly starting off with a bang. Ahead of its launch, more than 500 banks across the U.S. -- including American Express, Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America -- had already signed on to support Apple Pay. So, too, had a large number of retailers, including the Disney Store, McDonald's, Office Depot, Walgreens and Whole Foods Market.

The average person celebrating Christmas, Kwanza and/or Hanukkah will spend $804.42, up nearly 5% from 2013’s actual $767.27, according to the National Retail Federation’s 13th annual Holiday Consumer Spending Survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. In other results, the average shopper plans to do 44% of their holiday shopping online, the most in the survey’s history. For the first time, NRF asked consumers about their comfort level using a smartphone or tablet to pay for merchandise at a store check-out counter. It found that 27.4% would be somewhat or very comfortable. But  two in five (41.9%) say they are not …

Metail, the virtual fitting room company, has closed a £7.5m round of investment to help develop its mobile offering for savvy shoppers. Metail’s software allows users to create a 3D, virtual model of themselves – the MeModel – and try on clothes while shopping online. The lead investor on this round is Tal Apparel, part of garment giant Tal Group.

Several new financial institutions have aligned themselves with Paym, a mobile paymentsservice launched by the UK Payments Council. Paym has been gaining more support within the financial service industry in recent months, with several of the United Kingdom’s largest banks signing up for the service. The service aims to accommodate the growing demand for mobile commerce in the UK and provides consumers with a person-to-person payment option that is mobile-centric in nature.

Mobile ordering has picked up significantly in the past year, but one potential area of differentiation that not a lot of restaurants have taken advantage of yet is how behaviors differ between men and women. Popular restaurant chains such as Subway, Domino’s, Chipotle and others are offering consumers the ability to place orders before they arrive at the premises.

United Airlines will outfit more than 200 United Express regional jets with Wi-Fi as the airline boosts opportunities for in-flight use of mobile. The airline’s first Wi-Fi enabled flights will begin later this year, featuring Gogo's ATG-4 advanced air-to-ground Wi-Fi on E170, E175 and CRJ700 aircraft. The move comes as airlines strive to match the ability of buses and trains to let customers use mobile in-transit.