After crossing borders, Apply Pay went live in the UK. With Apple Pay’s launch in the UK, customers of some banks were extremely happy while those of other banks were really angry and all their emotions were clearly evident on Twitter. In short, Apple Pay was successful in the UK but banks like HSBC and First Direct who aren’t still supporting Apple Pay had to deal with their customers’ fuming reactions on Twitter last week. While HSBC was supposed to be the launching partner for Apple Pay in the UK, it has not launched Apple Pay for its customers yet. …

Reports are now showing that Apple has patented a new tool that would make it possible for mobile ads to display only products and services that should be considered affordable to the individual user of that device, according to their own banks. It is already common practice for marketers to obtain information about the kinds of products that smartphone and tablet users have the greatest likelihood of purchasing based on the sites that they visit and other interactions that they have with their devices. Physical location, gender, and age can all play an important role in decision making when it comes to …

Italian jeweler Bulgari is bringing traditional craftsmanship into the digital ecosystem with an intelligent timepiece focused on data security. The Diagono E Magnesium is a fully mechanical timepiece equipped with NFC technology, which allows the watch to act as a key that opens a secure Bulgari Vault smartphone application. As wealthy consumers are doing more online, from banking and shopping to email, technology that makes these interactions safer will be a welcome addition.

Snapdeal, Flipkart and Amazon, the country's top ecommerce companies, are trying to bring on board makers of televisions, refrigerators and air-conditioners in a move aimed at benefitting consumers, manufacturers and online retailers. Appliance and white goods manufacturers, including Samsung Electronics, Whirlpool and Godrej, which had cracked down on online sales of their products at heavy discounts, are now considering ecommerce seriously. The success of smartphone sale ..   

The Peninsula Hotels is celebrating its recently released new mobile experience by offering consumers exclusive discounts when they book reservations on their mobile phones or tablets. The Peninsula Hotels only recently introduced the mobile-optimized Web site and is clearly looking to draw consumers’ attention to its upgraded services. By offering exclusive deals and discounts, The Peninsula Hotels will likely prompt consumers to remember its Web site when booking their next vacation.

Ride-sharing application Uber is leveraging a partnership with British soccer club Chelsea FC to deliver the team’s limited-edition club kits to riders in select cities worldwide. The cross-marketing opportunity may open new doors for Uber, which now faces increasing competition from fellow taxi apps such as Lyft and RideScout. It also may prompt fans of Chelsea FC to use Uber over another app in the hopes of receiving one of the kits, which will be available to Uber customers five days prior to the rest of the public.

Customers are on the move and developing more beneficial shopping patterns by harnessing connected technologies to simplify and optimize the path to purchase, according to a survey of 2,500 consumers, conducted by Blackhawk Engagement Solutions. The smartphone is the most prevalent Internet device, with 71 percent of shoppers using one daily, followed by notebooks (66 percent), desktop computers (50 percent), and tablets (43 percent). Additionally, TV watching and Internet shopping are closely linked, with more than half (58 percent) of consumers shopping at home while watching TV, and 47 percent of consumers learning about products, special sales and shopping news on TV.

Samsung is testing a mobile wallet solution, but it may be a while before U.S. consumers get to join in the fun. The consumer electronics giant announced in a blog posting that Korean consumers can now use a beta version of its Samsung Pay mobile payment application. Samsung Pay functionality is built into the hardware of Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge mobile devices, but select Korean consumers will have the first chance to try out the software and cloud services supporting the service. Samsung says Samsung Pay is the first and only mobile payment service that works with both near …

In Canada, the major banks are working hard to implement the technology that is required to allow consumers to be able to adopt mobile payments, but at the same time, less than a quarter of the adults in the country can actually use it. The banks are highly enthusiastic about creating mobile payments apps and services that will allow people to use their smartphones instead of debit and credit cards when they make a purchase in a store. That said, the whitepaper pointed out that only under 25 percent of consumers in Canada actually have all of the requirements that are needed to …

When it comes to hunting for products online, m-commerce is exploding among Millennials, but there are certain mobile shopping apps that are attracting a lot more attention than others, and according to a recent Forbes report, the difference is a striking one. When compared to last year, the difference is massive, considering that the 2014 total was estimated to be around $180 billion. Because of mobile web limitations, retailers have been choosing to create their ownmobile shopping apps so that they would have greater control over the experience that they will be able to provide to their customers. This also makes …