Payments

We've seen a number of cards over the years designed to give owners access to different payment options from the same, single slice of plastic. The Dynamics Wallet Card is promised to improve on these in a few ways thanks to a programmable display and mobile phone chip.

​Today, Google announced a collaboration between Android Pay and PayPal that allows Android Pay users to link their PayPal accounts to the mobile payment platform.

Visitors to a Pizza Hut in Asia will soon be able to place an order, ask about nutritional info and pay for their meal without even speaking to a member of staff, or at least a human one. A robot that can interact with customers, like a glorified self-checkout, is to be piloted at the restaurant.​

From smart cards to mobile payment services, we’ve seen plenty of smart payment solutions, all vying for the attention of tech-savvy consumers. The Spendwallet is the latest of the bunch, offering a slick-looking, all-in-one wallet that opts for an in-house magnetic field technology instead of NFC.

If paying for something with your smartphone still seems like a strange concept, then news that you'll soon be able to do so with a selfie is likely all the more confusing. Indeed, though, MasterCard is set to roll-out both facial recognition and fingerprint payment authorization.

Just as it is possible to pay for products and services using apps on your smartphone, Visa is making it possible make payments using in-car apps. The firm has opened up its Visa Token Service to carmakers, meaning drivers will soon be able to pay for things like fuel from the comfort of their car.

Samsung's shiny new payment service, imaginatively named Samsung Pay, is set to arrive in the US next month. The service is designed for friction-free adoption, and will work "practically anywhere", making it easier for customers and business to use.

Jawbone and American Express have partnered to bring mobile payment capabilities to the new Jawbone UP4 fitness tracker. With the device, American Express cardholders will be able to make purchases anywhere that accepts contactless payments, even if they don’t have their phone on them.

Microsoft has quietly announced that its customers can now use bitcoin to purchase certain products through third party payment processor BitPay, which also supports tech sales site TigerDirect and Virgin’s space flight offshoot Virgin Galactic.

NearBytes technology that uses sound to bring NFC-like capabilities to non NFC-capable devices has now found a commercial application in the form of the Edgepay POS terminal that allows card-free payment of goods and services using a mobile phone.

Expedia.com has just announced that it will accept bitcoins as payment for online hotel bookings, joining the likes of Virgin Galactic, Overstock.com, and Atomic Mail in embracing the digital currency.

Nine mobile network operators across 48 countries in Africa and the Middle East have signed on to the GSMA’s Mobile Money Interoperability program in a bid to develop and implement convenient and affordable mobile phone-based financial services across the regions.