Google Wallet, a new near-field communications (NFC) based payment system created by Google in partnership with MasterCard and a number of additional partners, is now available on Sprint’s Nexus S 4G. Google Nexus S users on AT&T and T-Mobile are left out in the cold for now. MasterCard confirmed that an over-the-air update is being pushed to the Nexus S 4G on Monday that will automatically install the Google Wallet app. Once it is installed, users can enter in their MasterCard information and use t...

Visa is accelerating its efforts to dominate the mobile payment space, Reuters reported on Monday. Visa is no stranger to mobile payments. It began trialing an iPhone NFC payment solution in Europe early this year, has plans to work with Samsung on a system for the 2012 Olympics, and recently announced that it has partnered with ISIS for the development of a mobile payment network in the United States. “As mobile payments and other chip-based emerging technologies are poised to take off in the coming ye...

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa announced a new partnership with ISIS on Tuesday. ISIS is a mobile initiative that was formed in April of last year by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless in an effort to help foster the growth of using near-field communications for mobile payments. It’s currently being tested in Salt Lake City and Austin. Tuesday’s announcement means that, as the mobile market moves closer and closer to a time when we can actually use our phones to make tap-an...

Visa has made an undisclosed investment in payments startup Square in exchange for a seat on the firm’s board of, Reuters reports. Square is a portable credit card reader that was created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. It allows iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad owners to charge for goods and services on-the-go, but came under some scrutiny earlier this year when VeriFone’s CEO slammed the product in a blog post. On April 21st, Apple and Square announced that the Square credit card reader was availa...

On Wednesday, Square’s CEO Jack Dorsey announced that the firm’s iPhone credit card reader — also supported by the iPad and iPod touch — is now available in all 235 U.S. Apple Store locations, and online, for $9.95. The mobile payment solution allows business owners to quickly charge for products and services wherever they have an iOS device and a data connection. Square accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover cards, and the company takes a 2.75% cut of every swipe. If you sig...

Amazon has announced that its customers can now purchase an ad-subsidized version of its Kindle. The “Kindle with Special Offers” eReader will retail for $114 and comes with sponsored screen savers and advertisements on the bottom of the screen. Buick, Procter & Gamble, Visa, and Amazon.com Reward Visa Card (Chase) will be the first companies to offer sponsored screen savers, and Kindle users can use a free “AdMash” Kindle application to choose what ads are displayed. Initial deals...

On Thursday Samsung and Visa announced a new partnership under which the two firms will provide an NFC mobile payment solution before, during, and after the London 2012 Olympics. The two companies will release an Olympics and Paralympics Games mobile handset in London that’s equipped with mobile NFC technology, Visa’s payment application, and a special SIM card. Here’s how it will work: When you’re ready to make a purchase, you’ll just have to open the Visa application on your ph...

Credit card giant Visa has announced a new payment service for U.S. consumers set to launch in the second half of 2011. The new offering closely mimics services offered by PayPal, allowing users with a Visa-branded credit, debit, or pre-paid account to transfer money amongst each other. “Consumers in the U.S. will soon be able to receive and send funds to any eligible Visa credit, debit or prepaid account, anywhere in the world,” reads the press release. “By simply entering the recipient’s...

Visa has begun trials of an iPhone-based mobile payment system in Europe, Computerworld reports. The trials, which started today, require on-device software to be installed on testers’ iPhones, as well as a hardware accessory that contains an NFC chip. Visa’s solution also requires retailers to install a hardware terminal capable of processing the mobile payments. Apple is expected to add native NFC capabilities to its next-generation iPhone, which means users would not have to attach any additio...

An unaffiliated group of pro-WikiLeaks hackers calling itself “Anoymous” finds itself short a few member this evening as multiple alleged culprits were arrested on Thursday in the U.K. The BBC reports that five men were arrested in a series of raids, and they are being held in various locations across England. Allegations against the men are described as “recent and ongoing attacks by an online group that calls itself ‘Anonymous’.” The two adults and three teenagers were allegedly involved...

A global, ever-expanding team of hackers called “Anonymous” has announced its next target in a series of cyberattacks that have taken down multiple websites over the past few days. Among its targets were the websites of both Visa and Mastercard following news that the institutions would cease delivery of funds that had been donated to WikiLeaks. Using Twitter to announce the attack, the group is preparing to take down Amazon.com, presumably due to the company’s abrupt cancellation of its ho...

Bloomberg is reporting that AT&T, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Wireless are in talks to bring cellphone based payments to the States. Bloomberg cited, “three people with direct knowledge of the plan,” when they wrote that the three wireless vendors “may work with Discover Financial Services and Barclays Plc to test a system at stores in Atlanta and three other U.S. cities that would let a consumer pay with the contactless wave of a smartphone.” Currently, Visa and MasterCard handle ...

If you are not familiar with Square, it is a mobile payment service (hardware and software) that hopes to change how mobile transactions are processed. Now available for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Android devices, all you need to get going and accepting credit card payments is Square’s credit card reader. If you have been down the merchant account road before, you are probably asking how much the device costs, right? Square is giving out the reader, which plugs into the 3.5mm headset jack on your sma...

With the direction the world economy is headed, we’ll all be lucky if the only thing we have to resort to selling to get by is our blood at the local clinic. Sprint subscribers, however, might be able to bypass all of this nasty business from now until the end of the month because Sprint is in the middle of a promo whereby any subscriber who gets a friend to sign on the dotted line can walk away with a shiny $100 VISA debit card. As for the friends you refer, they’ll each get a $25 card as Sprint&...