Since 2013, Visa has run their Visa Checkout online payment service, competing with the likes of PayPal. We’ve now learned that Visa Checkout will apparently be shutting down sometime in 2020.
Update 5/18: Android Pay has officially launched in the UK. Coming soon to Australia and Singapore.
Update: As many have pointed out, the app is not yet in the Play Store. Google has since pulled the original tweet and commented that Android Pay in the UK is “not quite there yet”. An official announcement will likely coincide with I/O tomorrow.
After announcing plans for Android Pay’s first international expansion in March, Google’s contactless payment service is now available in the United Kingdom. According to the official Android Twitter account, those in the country can now download the app and set up the service.
Currently most of us have to inform our bank by phone when we’re travelling to avoid purchases in other countries appearing as red flags for fraud and being declined. That could soon change as Visa looks to track smartphones with a service called Mobile Location Confirmation in order to help their security systems become smarter and reduce declined purchases by as much as 30%.
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Sprint has made a few announcements today for new devices and services coming to its customers on its Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA prepaid brands. The company announced today that the Samsung Galaxy S III will be landing on both Boost and Virgin beginning in June. Both devices will be available on the two carriers’ no contract plans but Sprint didn’t make any details available for pricing on the device yet.
Also announced today is the waterproof Kyocera Hydro Edge smartphone, a 4.1-inch Android 4.1 device that’s capable of submersion up to 3.28 feet. No exact launch date or pricing as of yet, but Sprint will be making it available through both its Sprint and Boost Mobile brands later this summer.
Sprint also announced today that it is launching a new ‘Boost Mobile Wallet’ service powered by technology from mobile payments company Wipit. The service is available for Boost customers starting today through a free app on Google Play, but for now is only available to users in Los Angeles, San Diego and parts of New Jersey.
The app allows users to load cash into their wallet at Boost Mobile stores, send money to 135 countries, and Sprint will also be giving out reloadable Visa prepaid cards for ATM access:
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Sprint has been working with Google to expand support for Google Wallet on its devices and has added the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, and Samsung Galaxy Note 2 to the list of compatible devices.
Both the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 are widely considered leading Android smartphones currently so this should create a solid platform of support for Google Wallet.
Google Wallet allows users to make purchases by placing their phones near receivers built for NFC (near field communication) and supports Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.
(via AndroidGuys)
Samsung is today officially unveiling its “Samsung Wallet” mobile app solution, and it is quickly gaining attention for similarities to Apple’s iOS 6 ticket, card, and coupon solution known as Passbook. For those familiar with Apple’s app, Samsung Wallet appears to work much the same way. The app will allow users to store event tickets, membership cards, coupons, and boarding passes in one central app. From there, users will be able to present the digital passes and companies supporting the standard can scan a barcode included for each digital ticket.
Samsung has already posted a developers document for the app to outline how devs can implement support for the app using an API (via The Verge). The document also explained how the app works and noted that users will also receive real-time notifications related to their tickets, just as Apple does with Passbook.
As for the Apple influence, aside from the look and feel of the app and icon (pictured above), the Samsung Wallet app doesn’t seem to offer any additional functionality above and beyond what Passbook already offers. The company confirmed to TheVerge that the app will initially not be integrated with NFC wallet solutions (despite a new partnership with Visa), but it did confirm partners for the app’s launch include: Walgreens, Belly, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, and Lufthansa.
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Samsung and Visa today announced a deal that would see future Samsung devices preloaded with the Visa payWave applet, allowing consumers to “wave and pay” through Visa’s contactless payment terminals. The Visa payWave service will of course only come preloaded on select Samsung devices, but rumor has it that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 will be the first to receive the functionality. While Samsung and Visa were showing off the technology with existing NFC-enabled devices at MWC this week, CNET and others have apparently confirmed through sources that the S4 will indeed be the first device to get the applet preloaded.
Visa also noted that the partnership, which isn’t exclusive with Samsung, will allow financial institutions with mobile payment programs to “use the Visa Mobile Provisioning Service to securely download payment account information to NFC-enabled Samsung devices.”
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Google Wallet has been updated today with a few new features including enhancements to the overall user interface. As for the UI, the app’s navigation has been moved around slightly with loaded cards stored in the “My Wallet” tab apart from your default card.
Google also noted “improvements to the user interface, application stability, and battery life” in the update’s release notes and highlighted support for all cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover.
Google Wallet is available on Google Play here.
Google rolled out its Google Wallet web app at the beginning of the month and introduced support for all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, America Express, and Discover, at the same time. Today, the company announced on the Google Commerce blog that Discover Card is the first to implement the new “Save to Wallet” API for credit and debit card issuers.
Discover securely transmits all required information directly to Google Wallet. You can then select your Discover Card to be the primary method the Google Wallet app will use for in-store purchases, or when shopping online from Google Play or other merchants that accept Google Wallet. You’ll continue to earn rewards on every purchase you make. Discover has also provided Google Wallet with card imagery for the Discover More® Card, so you can easily identify your virtual Discover card in your mobile wallet.
Google demoed the new API during its full Wallet session at Google I/O in June. The feature allows card issuers and eventually other partners to provide a “Save to Wallet” or “Add Your Card” option in their website or application to securely transfer card and account information to Google Wallet. Google said the API would eventually extend to saving Offers in addition to payment cards.
To save a Discover Card to Google Wallet, follow the instructions below:
According to a report from Bloomberg, three of the largest mobile carriers in the US are getting ready to make a $100 million investment in NFC enabled payment system ‘Isis’. This is seen as a move to take some of the $240 billion a year (according to Juniper Research) mobile payment market from Google and, specifically, Google Wallet.
While Isis won’t begin testing the technology until next year, they have already signed up Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. Google Wallet has been up and running on Android devices since May but is only available through MasterCard and Citibank with MasterCard Paypass. Having support from Visa, the “world’s largest credit card network”, will certainly give Isis an advantage in the U.S. market.
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