Still trying to salvage its mobile payments business, Google this week said it acquired TxVia for an undisclosed sum. The New York-based startup is understood to have developed a number of payment technologies, including prepaid and gift cards, but to what extent it can help Google is not yet clear. “It is no secret that Google Wallet has had a difficult time since launching about a year ago,” writes AllsThingsD. “Since then, any momentum it had created was squelched when it failed to secure partnerships with the four major wireless providers in the U.S.” Currently, Google Wallet only works only …

What are wealthier smartphone users doing with their devices? For starters, playing fewer games and sending fewer tweets than the general population, reports Reuters, citing new research from The Luxury Institute. Rather, these consumers -- who earn an annual income of at least $150,000, and tend to be older, with a mean age of 52 -- prefer news, travel and finance apps, according to a new study. "As you get older and have family and significant others, aging parents, and a lot more assets and investments, you're going to need apps for far more relevant things than playing games and …

Largely due to operating temperature issues, Web watchers have been asking whether Apple’s latest iPad represented a fall from grace for the company’s mobile business. According to new research, the answer is a resounding, ‘Not ever close!’ In fact, among some 200 new iPad owners surveyed last week by ChangeWave Research, 98%  were either satisfied (16%) or very satisfied (89%) with their new devices. What’s more, a full 89% said the much-publicized heat issue was either not a problem or something they hadn’t even experienced. “It's not often you can get 200 people to agree about anything, nevermind something as …

By most accounts, Android isn’t making Google a ton of money. Yet, it would be a mistake to assume that Google’s top priority with the mobile operating system is to turn a quick profit. At least according to GigaOm’s Tom Krazit. “Not all investments are made with the expectation that a big payoff is around the corner,” he writes. “Google’s decision to bankroll the development of Android was just such an investment.” Wouldn’t the search giant like to see a big financial return from its mobile business? Sure, but, according to Krazit, that’s never been Google’s goal with Android. Rather, …