Visa’s recent acquisition push has brought the payments network giant a range of interesting assets, from merchant processing solutions, mobile and social media properties to technology solutions. However, Visa’s most recent acquisition, Fundamo of South Africa, may have the most interesting potential to influence the direction of global mobile payments, given its focus on using […]

OK, I have to say that the news yesterday about ISIS did not come as a great surprise to me. We were pretty gloomy (even for us) on its prospects at the jump. This piece pretty much summed up our point of view on the joint venture and provided our initial take on the implications […]

Next to the content of bin Laden’s hard drive, what I’d most like to see today are the PowerPoint decks that led AT&T and Verizon to actually think they could start a mobile payments network. My guess is that between the two companies and their management consultants the following questions weren’t addressed or were glossed […]

Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but the weeklong “Loves Me” or “Loves Me Not” series on PYMNTS.com is just beginning. The final stop for the Market Platform Dynamics team is ‘Open Platforms’: loves me or loves me not?
David Evans: Loves Me
Wouldn’t you love to have a business where everyone else does all the work, […]

The third day of the Resolution Series brings with it a market focus and a look at customer needs. Tim Attinger of Market Platform Dynamics vows to be more open [with his platforms] in 2011.
I will design with the customer in mind
In the past I have built my products by looking around my […]

Sidelining the sweets? Forgoing the french fries? There are some New Year’s resolutions worth keeping this year and continuing the Resolution Series, Karen Webster shares her 2011 payments New Year’s resolutions.
I will focus on innovation that can be ignited and return a profit (in my lifetime)
I know that VCs have a rule […]

As part of our 2011 kick off, PYMNTS.com has turned to its cast of experts on the Market Platform Dynamics team for a few of their payments New Year’s resolutions. In addition to sharing their thoughts, we would love for you to share your payments resolutions, here.
I will treat merchants as valued customers.
I have taken […]

On the 11th Day of Christmas my true love gave to me … 100 Facebook credits and told me I could go crazy buying virtual stuff for my farm on Farmville. Frankly, it was not what I expected to receive from my true love. I’m really not the kind of girl who is into farming, […]

Point of Sale (POS) payment acceptance was once a relatively sleepy, almost commodity-like extension of the merchant acquiring business, with a handful of standard terminals manufactured by Verifone, Hypercom and Ingenico that were sold and deployed via merchant acquirers and ISOs.  These POS systems were joined by the large, integrated software solutions provided by IBM, […]

As you wait for Santa to come and fill your stocking this holiday season, you may be thinking of what might be the best toys and gadgets for that most demanding of technologists in your household, namely…yourself.  Perhaps you have bought every new gadget that comes out in the marketplace, including tech toys that were […]