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SOUTHWEST AIRLINES, CHILI’S® GRILL & BAR AND OTHERS JOIN MCX

Momentum continues as Merchant Customer Exchange accumulates scale.

Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) announced today that Southwest Airlines, Brinker International, Inc. (parent company of Chili’s® Grill & Bar and Maggiano’s Little Italy®), Pacific Convenience & Fuels LLC and RaceTrac are some of the latest merchants to join its effort to provide a widely accepted, customer-focused and secure mobile-commerce solution.

These members join other recently added companies including DICK’S Sporting Goods, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., Meijer, QuikTrip and Wawa which were announced as part of MCX in January.

MCX’s 30-plus merchants have unparalleled consumer relationships, including more than 700 million payment and other customer accounts. They employ 4 million people across nearly 80,000 stores, and represent more than $1 trillion in annual sales. MCX merchants include five of the top 10, and 20 of the top 90 merchants by revenue on the National Retail Federation’s Top 100 list.

Initially, MCX’s mobile wallet will be primarily barcode- and cloud-based, offering consumers a personalized payment experience integrated with participating merchant offers, promotions, loyalty and location-based services.
“Southwest supports efforts to bring a competitive mobile-payments network to the market that also protects consumer and merchant data,” said Chris Monroe, Treasurer, Southwest Airlines. “We’re proud to join the growing list of outstanding merchants backing MCX.”

Source: Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX)

Nokia to sell sub-$100 Smart Phone #nokia

Nokia’s new Asha Platform Unlocks Sub-$100 Smartphone Opportunity for Developers.

The new Asha platform delivers developers a consistent quality application experience in the world’s fastest growing smartphone category

New Delhi, India and Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced a global initiative to unlock the sub-100 USD smartphone market for developers with the release of its Nokia Asha platform. Nokia also announced the Nokia Asha 501 will be the first smartphone built for the new platform.

Developers who write applications for the Nokia Asha 501 will reach all smartphones based on the new Asha platform without having to re-write code. Nokia expects to sell 100 million of the new generation Asha smartphones over the coming years, beginning with the Nokia Asha 501.

“We’ve seen a tremendous increase in consumer demand for apps for our Asha smartphones, as witnessed by the growth of downloads in Nokia Store,” said Marco Argenti, head of Developer Experiences at Nokia. “Consumers expect quality apps at every price point. With the new Asha platform, developers will be incentivized to deliver those quality apps, previously found only on high-end smartphones, thanks to unprecedented volumes and reach opportunities through one distribution channel and a single platform.”

Many of the most popular applications are already available or in development for the Nokia Asha platform, including CNN, eBuddy, ESPN, Facebook, Foursquare, Line, LinkedIn, Nimbuzz, Pictelligent, The Weather Channel, Twitter, WeChat, World of Red Bull and games from Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Indiagames, Namco-Bandai and Reliance Games. WhatsApp and other key partners continue to explore new Asha.

Developers will also get easy-to-use development tools and more ways to sell and promote apps, including the new Nokia In-App Payment tool.

New Nokia Asha SDK 1.0 and Nokia Asha web app tools

The new Nokia Asha Software Development Kit 1.0 is a suite of tools that support the development, testing, packaging and deployment of Java apps on the Nokia Asha platform.

The new Nokia Asha web app tools include a Web Development Environment (WDE), an integrated development environment (IDE) that developers can use to create and edit their Nokia Asha web apps; Web Inspector to help developers to debug and inspect elements in their web apps; and a new Web Designer Tool for creating great user experience for their web apps.

Nokia In-App Payment

Nokia also announced the new Nokia In-App Payment tool, designed to make it easier for developers to sell content from within their apps. It provides a simple and secure purchase experience for consumers and transparent payments for developers. Nokia In-App Payment will also be available for existing Asha and Series 40 phones, such as the Nokia 301. Nokia will release a public beta of Nokia In-App Payment in the coming weeks. Developers can sign-up for the beta at http://www.developer.nokia.com/inapppayment.

Developers voice support for new Nokia Asha platform

Dennis Crowley, CEO and co-founder of Foursquare: “Nokia continues to be a valued partner for Foursquare. The new Foursquare app on Asha delivers a fantastic search and discovery experience to help people make the most of where they are. As we head into the next wave of new Asha smartphones, we look forward to making Foursquare available for millions of Asha customers around the world.”

Michael Fisher, Director of Mobile Business Development, Twitter: “Twitter’s integration into the new Asha platform, along with preloaded Twitter application that ships on Nokia devices, offers people a richer Twitter experience. Whether you want to share a photo or news article, connect with people or find out what’s happening around the world, it’s now easier than ever to use Twitter on this family of devices.”

Sebastien Thevenet, General Manager SEA-Pacific, Gameloft: “As Nokia’s long term partner, with to date 200 million downloads recorded on Nokia Store, Gameloft is thrilled to offer four preloaded high quality games on the Nokia Asha 501 at launch (Assassin’s Creed 3, Bubble Bash 3, Real Football 2013, Little Big City) and overall more than 30 games to download on Nokia Store down the track. Those innovative titles are Try and Buy and Free to Play games making the most of Asha Full Touch capabilities and unique user interface, truly bringing a smartphone gaming experience at your fingertips.”

Akira Morikawa, CEO of Line Corporation: “Line’s partnership with Nokia is very important and it will continue on new Asha. Delivering Line on new Asha represents our commitment of ensuring that people around the world will experience the joy of communication through Line on Asha smartphones.”

Manish Agarwal, CEO, Reliance Games: “Reliance Games and Nokia have together demonstrated the combined power of localized content and a distribution platform in India. Our partnership with Nokia is a very cherished partnership for us to demonstrate the power of GoLocal. Reliance Games is committed to develop games on localized themes on the new Asha platform and entertain millions of people around the world by working closely with local Nokia teams in India, Asia Pacific, Latin America and other growth markets.”

Keshav Bajaj, VP Business Development, Nimbuzz: “Most of the 150 million and counting Nimbuzz users are from markets where Nokia Asha continues to gain momentum, including India, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa. We are very excited to have an application exclusively built for the new Asha platform to ensure the best user experience. This is yet another initiative from Nimbuzz for one of its most exclusive partners, Nokia.”

Alex Adjadj, Director of Strategic Development, Mobile Sales & Marketing, Namco-Bandai: “NAMCO BANDAI has been developing mobile games for over 10 years but there are still regions of the world where users haven’t seen or played PAC-MAN. Our 22 titles available in 13 languages for the Nokia Asha 501 is a testament to our commitment to Nokia to bring a great experience to mobile users of all demographics and budgets.”

Ramesh Kumar, Head of ESPNcricinfo and ESPN Digital Media India: “Given the popularity of Asha devices, the ESPNcricinfo app on the Asha 2013 platform is a dynamic way to reach growing numbers of mobile users in emerging markets. It is a rich platform where the ESPNcricinfo app can provide comprehensive cricket coverage tailored to suit on-the-go consumption of today’s passionate fans, including its famed match coverage, the latest news stories, insightful editorial pieces covering International & domestic cricket – all tailor-made for mobile consumption.”

Glenn Roland, VP New Platforms and OEMs, Electronic Arts: “With the new improved Asha platform and the Asha 501, Electronic Arts is excited to be bringing our games to Asha devices – extending our long partnership with Nokia – and reaching new EA fans and continuing growth into new markets.”

Source: Nokia

Pacific Convenience & Fuels joins the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX)

CSP reports that Pacific Convenience & Fuels LLC, the convenience retailer that operates more than 300 gas stations and convenience stores with the 76, Conoco, Chevron and Circle K fuel brands in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Washington, has joined the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) secure mobile-commerce solution.
MCX claims more than 30 merchants processing more than 700 million payment and other customer accounts across nearly 80,000 stores, representing more than $1 trillion in annual sales.
Other convenience and fuel channels members include 7-Eleven, Alon Brands, QuikTrip, RaceTrac, Sheetz, Shell, Sunoco and Wawa. Conspicuously absent from the c-store mix is Arizona-based Circle K Stores.

Increased smartphone sales boosts Sony Group

Increased smart phone sales played a considerable role in driving Sony Group revenue in the first quarter ending March 31, 2013. The company bought manufacturing partner Ericsson for $1.1 billion at the beginning of 2012. Sony’s smart phone sales for the quarter were 8.1 million units, down from 8.7 million sold in the third quarter. Total smartphone sales for the past twelve months reached 33 million units, up from 22.5 million the year before.

According to Sony, its flagship Xperia Z smartphone is enjoying “strong consumer acceptance” since its launch in February, and forecasts 42 million smartphone sales in the current fiscal year.

Credit card industry pioneer dies at age 96. #payments

Stanley A. Dashew, the inventor and entrepreneur who helped revolutionize the credit card industry, died of natural causes Thursday in Los Angeles, according to a family spokesman. He was 96.

Dashew developed a plastic material that could be embossed using a machine he and a group of engineers developed.  The machine was equipped with a keyboard that could emboss plastic cards with a customer’s name, account number and an expiration date.

He and his team also built an early point-of-sale terminal that captured all the information contained on the card and print out a receipt to be signed by the customer. Bank of America, Chase Manhattan Bank and American Express would all use his technology.

Dashew’s work led to the creation of the BankAmericard and the introduction of the Unicard — the predecessor of VISA and considered to be the first plastic bank card system. When pitching his machine to American Express, Dashew embossed the names of each board member on a sample card, along with the date and the catchphrase, “Member since …”

He sold Dashew Business Machines to Howard Hughes’ Hughes Tool Co.   The company subsequently went bankrupt in 1965.

Signs your favorite website is in trouble

When a company starts neglecting a site’s design or features, that could mean it’s shifting resources to other projects or running low on money.

EveryBlock, the hyper-local news site owned by NBC, abandoned ship without notice in February. Blogging platform Posterous closed earlier this week, one year after it was purchased by Twitter, giving users two months notice that it was closing. Google Reader, the RSS tool, shuts down July 1st.

Starbucks mobile payments app has more than 10 million active users

Speaking, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said during the company’s Q2 2013 analyst call that its mobile payments app now has more than 10 million active users, completing almost four million transactions per week.

Back in January, Schultz said over seven million customers use the company’s apps, representing 2.1 million transactions each week.

#Android tablets market share closing in on Apple

According to figures from Strategy Analytics, Android shipments shot up by 177 per cent, to 17.6 million units during the three months ended March 2013, compared to same period 2012

Android’s market share grew to 43.4 per cent, compared with 34.2 per cent during the twelve months previously. Apple market share slipped to 48.2 per cent, from 63.1 per cent in Q1 2012.

Strategy Analytics says Apple shipped 19.5 million tablets during the three months ended March compared with 11.8 million in Q1 2012.

Peter King, Strategy Analytics’ director of tablets said global branded tablet shipments reached 40.6 million units in Q1 2013, an increase of 117 percent from 18.7 million in Q1 2012. Microsoft captured 7.4 per cent global tablet share in Q1 2013.

What Does Financial Inclusion Mean?

On November 13, 2012 MasterCard hosted a public-private dialogue entitled “What Does Financial Inclusion mean to you?” This is the second in series of Cashless Conversations MasterCard has held live in its Conversation Suite.

Representatives from The World Bank, The Fletcher School, Pro Mujer, and CGAP were on hand to join MasterCard in this important discussion. I thought it was worth sharing with you.

Mobile POS to account for $1.1 trillion in new card payments

Javelin Strategy and Research has released a new study projecting mobile point of sale (MPOS) transactions could account for $1.1 trillion in new card payments annually, and grow the existing market for payment networks by as much as 20 million merchants.

MPOS is a disruptive threat to the traditional acquiring and POS terminal business. In addition to creating increased transparency and simplified pricing models for merchants, MPOS players like Square and Intuit have succeeded without the need for ISOs to sell their services.

The ISO market is highly fragmented, and will have to reinvent itself to remain relevant and competitive against the new players.