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<div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image">Owen Thomas, Business InsiderSome stores take <keyword id="1776599" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="GoPago">GoPago</keyword> instead of Square</div></div> Looks like <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> has acquired <keyword id="583485" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mobile-Payments">mobile payments</keyword> <keyword id="138263" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> GoPago for an undisclosed sum, according to the <a href="http://www.repubblica.it/rubriche/startup-stories/2013/12/16/news/sogno_americano_vincenzo_di_nicola_amazon-73709099/">Italian newspaper La Repubblica</a>.
Vincenzo Di Nicola, Italian native and GoPago's cofounder and CTO talked to La Repubblica, as first noticed by <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/16/amazon-reportedly-buys-mobile-payments-startup-gopago-working-on-an-ambitious-new-project/">TechCrunch's Ingrid Lunden. </a>
GoPago <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gopago-square-rival-payments-2012-8">burst onto the scene in 2012</a>. It lets customers order ahead, pay on their smartphone, and go to the store to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gopago-app-walkthrough-2012-8">pick up a purchase without having to deal with lines</a>. It fills a similar niche as Square, the app that turns a smartphone into mobile wallet or cash register. Interestingly, GoPago was backed by JP Morgan Chase, who also invested in Square.
We've reached out to Amazon and GoPago to confirm. In the meantime, Lunden has peeled the following info from the La Republica's story:
<ul>
<li>Google was reportedly interested in buying GoPago as well.</li>
<li>Di Nicola is not joining Amazon with the <keyword id="30334" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="acquisition">acquisition</keyword>.</li>
<li>GoPago had 70 employees and its not clear if Amazon will be employing them or if GoPago sold only its tech to Amazon.</li>
<li>Di Nicola says the GoPago tech will be at the heart of a new, "ambitious" project.</li>
</ul>
Perhaps that project is related to Amazon's new "Log in and Pay" service that lets you pay for stuff on other ecommerce <a href="https://payments.amazon.com/personal">sites through your Amazon account</a>, Lunden speculates. Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

Report: Amazon Has Bought Square Competitor GoPago

This post is part of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/future-of-business">"Future of Business"</a> series, which examines how cutting-edge technologies are rapidly reshaping our world, from how businesses run to how we live. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/future-of-business">"The Future of Business"</a> is sponsored by SAP.
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/future-of-business">See more Future of Business &gt;&gt;</a><div class="image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><a title_source="bananniekins on Poshmark" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/50fef13deab8eaec1900000c-960/poshmark-bananniekins.jpg"></a></div>bananniekins on <keyword id="1776597" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Poshmark">Poshmark</keyword></div>There was a time when e-commerce and bricks-and-mortar stores existed in separate worlds. Then came high-speed wireless and powerful smartphones, and the retailing world has never been the same.
In the past, an example of online-offline crossover might be researching a purchase online and buying it in a store. But mobile apps that scan barcodes or recognize book and CD covers have turned that behavior on its head, creating a "showrooming" trend where people browse in physical stores and then buy from an online store. And some online retailers, especially innovators like Fab and One Kings Lane, are reporting that anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of their sales are done on mobile devices, depending on the time of year. 
Retailers have fought back against showrooming, but there's more change coming. Person-to-person commerce from startups like Poshmark and Yardsale, enabled by smartphones' cameras, location <keyword id="35660" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="features">features</keyword>, and the trust provided by social-network connections, are upending established e-commerce players, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-seller-threat-2013-1">prompting a big response from eBay</a>.
As we survey the new landscape of commerce, <keyword id="6368952" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="shopping">shopping</keyword> apps that are catching fire with consumers provide a window into fast-changing consumer behavior.Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

10 Apps That Changed How We Think About Shopping

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Getty Images/Scott Olson" title_caption="Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos" class="zoomin" href="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/52b09cf2ecad0497539b44cf-960/jeff-bezos-amazon-25.jpg"></a>Getty Images/Scott OlsonAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos</div></div>A GoPago customer tells us that Amazon has indeed bought GoPago and most of the staff has been let go. This customer heard the news last week from newly unemployed workers and executives, the staff that he had been working with prior to the acquisition, he told Business Insider.
This customer owns a string of restaurants and was doing a fairly large-scale test of the GoPago devices, which let customers pay for food with their smartphones. He had ordered about three dozen devices, paying around $100/per device per month for the service, including the hardware, the cloud service and Verizon fees.
"Amazon basically took over their development team and anybody else was let go. They may still have a skeleton crew, but I'm not getting answers and the usual people I talked to are no longer there," this customer told Business Insider.
This customer said the test had shown there were still some wrinkles in the system that needed to be ironed out. When a restaurant patron used it, GoPago didn't always charge the customer correctly, or the restaurant didn't always get paid correctly. The system would "lose transactions, or the transactions would get messed up, get error-ed out ... no one [at GoPago] would know what was wrong," our source said. It had "lots of bugs." Our source had been hoping to continue to work with GoPago on fixing them.
Amazon has not yet publicly commented on the acquisition, nor responded to Business Insider's requests for comment. GoPago has not responded to us either. (The email we sent to GoPago's media relations team was forwarded onto a technical support forum.)
As this was a trial, he was working with GoPago to fix the system until last week, when he was told that Amazon acquired the company. News broke on Monday about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/report-amazon-has-bought-square-competitor-gopago-2013-12">the acquisition after Italian newspaper </a><a href="http://www.repubblica.it/rubriche/startup-stories/2013/12/16/news/sogno_americano_vincenzo_di_nicola_amazon-73709099/">La Repubblica</a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/report-amazon-has-bought-square-competitor-gopago-2013-12"> had reported on it.</a> Vincenzo Di Nicola, an Italian native and GoPago's co-founder and CTO, had talked to the La Repubblica.
In that report, Nicola said that he was not joining Amazon.
Meanwhile, this customer, who prepaid his contract for GoPago, says he "just wants to my money back." But, again, he can't get anyone still working at the company to answer his calls.
Meanwhile, it's unclear what Amazon plans to do with the GoPago technology.
Di Nicola told La Repubblica that the GoPago tech will be at the heart of a new, "ambitious" project at Amazon. There's been speculation that it will become part of Amazon's new "Log in and Pay" service that lets you pay for stuff on other ecommerce <a href="https://payments.amazon.com/personal">sites through your Amazon account</a>. There's also speculation that Amazon is building its own internal mobile payments tech to compete with PayPal or Square directly.Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

Amazon Acquired GoPago Despite Its Bugs - And Laid Off A Bunch Of Staff

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Richard BrianAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos</div></div>As <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-gopago-acquisition-2013-12">we've previously reported</a> Amazon has quietly bought mobile payments company GoPago and dismissed most of its employees.
Word of the sale first came when co-founder Vincenzo Di Nicola talked about the acquisition to <a href="http://www.repubblica.it/rubriche/startup-stories/2013/12/16/news/sogno_americano_vincenzo_di_nicola_amazon-73709099/">Italian newspaper La Repubblica.</a>
Since Amazon didn't keep most of GoPago's 70-employees, including cofounder Di Nicola, Amazon was clearly acquiring the tech, not a company that would continue to run and develop as an independently owned entity. In fact, one GoPago customer we talked to said that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-gopago-acquisition-2013-12">he can no longer get anyone to answer his calls</a>.
Di Nicola said in that same article that the GoPago tech will be at the heart of a new, "ambitious" project at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/" target="_blank" title="" class="skimwords-link" data-skimwords-id="1974446" data-skimwords-word="amazon" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="300001" data-skim-product="1974446">Amazon</a>.
What does that mean? We don't know. But we can speculate:
GoPago makes a Square competitor that lets people pay for stuff at restaurants and retailers with their smartphones, a tech that's sometimes called a "digital wallet." 
Seems likely that the GoPago tech could become part of Amazon's new "Log in and Pay" service that lets you pay for stuff on other ecommerce <a href="https://payments.amazon.com/personal">sites through your Amazon account</a>.
But it could be that Amazon is building its own internal mobile payments tech to compete more directly with PayPal or Square.
In fact, Forrester Research recently looked into how Amazon would fair if it did this. Answer: pretty good. With no product and no marketing on Amazon's part, 23% of North American online consumers would trust Amazon to provide them with a digital wallet.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

This Chart Offers A Great Clue To Amazon's Secret New 'Ambitious' Mobile Payments Plan

Welcome to our new Payments Insights newsletter, a morning email with the top news and analysis on the digital payments industry, produced by <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=PINSIGHTSutm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" target="_blank">BI Intelligence</a>. 
<a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/biipaymentsform" target="_blank">Click here to sign up for Payment Insights today, and receive it every morning in your inbox</a>.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><a title_source="Matt Rosoff Business Insider" title_caption="PayPal President David A. Marcus" class="zoomin" href="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/52b0c637ecad04d52649d774-960/paypal-card-reader.jpg"></a>Matt Rosoff Business InsiderPayPal President David A. Marcus</div></div>PAYPAL MAKES ANOTHER MOBILE PLAY: PayPal's acquisition of StackMob, a company that helps software developers build and maintain apps, is a concrete sign that the company is attempting to become more developer- and mobile-friendly. The news broke yesterday, and PayPal posted a note to a company blog. 
With Stackmob, the post said, "we'll move even faster in creating, testing and deploying products that aim to transform payments for customers around the world."
Just a week ago, PayPal President David Marcus had signaled in press interviews that the company was going to double-down on mobile.
WHERE STACKMOB COMES IN: One result of the Stackmob acquisition is that eBay's PayPal could persuade app developers to use PayPal as their platform to take payments for users, for in-app purchases or commerce. PayPal has historically not been good at providing outside developers with the tools that might help them easily integrate PayPal-powered features into their apps. (<a href="https://www.paypal-forward.com/leadership/paypal-welcomes-the-stackmob-team/">PayPal</a>)
OTHER SIGNS OF PAYPAL'S ONLINE AND OFFLINE EXPANSION: News of the StackMob deal comes on the heels of PayPal's Sept. 26 announcement of the acquisition of Braintree, a payments company that specializes in providing transaction-processing technology for the likes of Uber and Airbnb. PayPal has reportedly canned its archaic mobile payments software and adopted Braintree's superior mobile-first platform. 
PayPal has likewise stepped up its game in the world of offline payments. The company recently announced a service called PayPal Beacon which will allow consumers to pay for merchandise before they enter bricks-and-mortar locations, allowing them to bypass long retail lines. PayPal has also gotten into large retailers like Home Depot, which allow customers to pay with a PayPal PIN and their phone number at registers. <a href="https://www.paypal-forward.com/leadership/paypal-welcomes-the-stackmob-team/" target="_blank">(PayPal)</a>
WITH REPORTED DEAL FOR GOPAGO, AMAZON IS GUNNING FOR PAYPAL: The founders of San Francisco-based GoPago are telling Italian media that they have sold their payments app GoPago to Amazon. GoPago includes a consumer-side mobile wallet app, and cloud-based point-of-sale software for merchants. Business Insider's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-gopago-acquisition-2013-12" target="_blank">Julie Bort spoke to a GoPago merchant</a> who told her the deal had indeed happened and the GoPago development team was let go. 
If the reports are true, then it's becoming increasingly clear that Amazon's goal is to challenge eBay's PayPal and put its imprint on the payments ecosystem.
The first indicator came back back in October when Amazon launched "Log In and Pay with Amazon." The service allows consumers to make purchases from other e-commerce websites using their Amazon accounts, just like they can with their PayPal account. We expect more payments news from Amazon soon. (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/report-amazon-has-bought-square-competitor-gopago-2013-12" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>)
In other news ...
Starbucks is expecting record breaking gift card sales this Thursday. On the Thursday before Christmas last year, the company sold more than 2 million cards in North America or 1500 cards per minute. The announcement may mean a surge in Starbucks mobile app payments as well since gift cards can be and often are loaded onto the mobile app. <a href="http://news.starbucks.com/news/starbucks-anticipates-busiest-day-of-the-year-for-starbucks-card-purchases" target="_blank">(Starbucks)</a>
Londoners love contactless card payments: Since the service was announced in December of last year, Londoners have used their credit and debit cards to make contactless payments for 6.5 million journeys on London's public bus system. Prior to the service, people who wanted to ride the bus had to buy an Oyster transport card or pay a higher fare in cash. The service will be rolled out for London's overground and underground transport as well next year. <a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/29179.aspx" target="_blank">(Transport For London)</a>
WELCOME TO PAYMENTS INSIGHTS. This is the first edition of our newsletter covering all things payments. Don't forget to <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/biipaymentsform" target="_blank">sign up</a> and get it every morning in your inbox. Please email johnh@businessinsider.com or BI Intelligence director mballve@businessinsider.com with news and tips.
Sage announced that it is providing mobile card readers to 180 Cub Scout and Boy Scout troops. The card readers enable scouts to accept credit and debit card payments when selling merchandise like popcorn or wreaths for fundraisers. <a href="http://na.sage.com/sage-na/newsroom/details/SNA_Corporate/2013/12/sps-boy-scouts" target="_blank">(Sage)</a>
Mobile Embrace has signed a deal with Singaporean telecom Singtel to offer direct carrier billing, according to the Australian. The deal will allow Mobile Embrace to provide direct carrier billing services to Singtels customers in Singapore, but the company hopes to expand into Singtel's Asian markets in the future. <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/latest/aussie-mobile-firm-partners-withsingtel/story-e6frg90f-1226784865366">(The Australian)</a>
Facebook's charity: The newly announced "Donate Now" button aims to help people donate to nonprofits. The company is also partnering with PayPal, Braintree, and Stripe to offer an autocomplete billing solution called "Autofill With Facebook," according to AllThingsD. Autofill with Facebook will need people to enter their credit cards in order to catch on. <a href="http://newsroom.fb.com/News/773/Donate-to-Nonprofits-Through-Facebook" target="_blank">(Facebook)</a>
Thought QR codes were dead? WeChat is using them so effectively for mobile payments that Alibaba, the Chinese equivalent of Amazon, is taking measures to thwart the company's success. <a href="http://pando.com/2013/12/13/there-will-be-blood-wechats-payments-prowess-makes-it-a-target-for-alibaba/" target="_blank">(PandoDaily)</a>
Commonwealth Bank of Australia customers who own a Samsung Galaxy Gear S4 can now use their devices to make smartphone-powered payments wherever MasterCard PayPass points-of-sale are available. Commonwealth Bank is the largest bank in Australia. <a href="https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/news/media-releases/2013/samsungandmastercard.html" target="_blank">(Commonwealth Bank Of Australia)</a>
The government of Norway has defined Bitcoin as a taxable asset, rather than a conventional currency. The news comes in wake of China banning financial institutions from using the currency, the Thai government making the use of the cryptocurrency illegal. <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/15/5214772/bitcoin-not-real-money-says-norway-government" target="_blank">(The Verge)</a>
What subscribers are reading on BI Intelligence ...
[CHART] <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/521df5d31e240a9c3f3102401db74.35/UrGWZeYQMhH5JeNbB1513" target="_blank">Nearly Half The World's Internet Users Are Active On Facebook Each Month, One-Fifth Use YouTube</a>
[CHART] <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/521df5d31e240a9c3f3102401db74.35/UrGWZeYQMhH5JeNaB87c0" target="_blank">Mobile Drives One In Four Visits To E-Commerce Sites, With Tablets Driving More Traffic Than Smartphones</a>
[REPORT] <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/521df5d31e240a9c3f3102401db74.35/Uq81VTtu_uhr_qihB3254" target="_blank">A Social Engagement Primer: A Portrait Of Time-Spend And Activity On The Top Social Networks</a>
[CHART] <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/521df5d31e240a9c3f3102401db74.35/UrBJy-YQhtDM_gGwB65cb" target="_blank">LINE Provides A Great Example Of How Mobile Messaging Apps Can Make Money</a>
[CHART] <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/521df5d31e240a9c3f3102401db74.35/Uq71lztu_uhr_qXhB4367" target="_blank">The Average Global Internet User Spends Two And A Half Hours Daily On Social Media</a>
[CHART] <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/521df5d31e240a9c3f3102401db74.35/Uq71lztu_uhr_qXiBef2b" target="_blank">The Global Smartphone Market Is Still Accelerating, And Will End The Year Just Shy Of 1 Billion Units Shipped</a>Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

PayPal And Amazon Each Gun For The Future Of Payments With New Acquisitions

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Getty/Andrew BurtonJPMorgan Chase led a $100 million funding round for Bill.com, whose business payment services will soon be offered by the bank.</div></div></div>Investors are going crazy for financial tech companies, and on Tuesday Bill.com became the latest company to benefit from the feeding frenzy. The Palo Alto, Calif. startup announced $100 million in new funding, in a round led by JPMorgan Chase - the largest bank in the US - and Temasek, a private holding company owned by the government of Singapore.With the latest funding, Bill.com now has a private market valuation of $742.8 million, according to PitchBook's estimates, putting Bill.com among the upper ranks of richly valued startups. The eleven-year old startup, which is seeking to replace paper checks, has raised $200 million in total funding. And it is creeping closer to the so-called "unicorn" club of startups that have a $1 billion or more valuation, including fintech companies such as Stripe and Robinhood. The last public valuation estimates for Bill.com was $164 million in a 2013 round of funding - though the company has raised several rounds of funding at undisclosed valuations since then. <h2>A complex task </h2>Bill.com founder Rene Lacerte says that JP Morgan was the perfect investor for his company's current phase. "For me it's about having partners that buy into the strategy and execution that I have," Lacerte told Business Insider in an interview on Tuesday.Bill.com has 100,000 customers and claims that over 1% of all US businesses have used its service to either pay or to get paid, with $50 billion in payments processed annually.Among its offerings, Bill.com enables customers to send and receive electronic payments and invoices, store those documents electronically, and sync that information with accounting software. Banks can integrate its software into their digital banking interfaces for business customers to use, while other businesses can use the software directly to manage their payments. "Consumer payments are simple. Business payments are complex. If you think about all the bills coming and going for a business, there's just a lot more information," Lacerte said. "All of that complexity means that banks would have to build something around customer ease of use and experience, and that's not necessarily a core function of a bank." Lacerte said Bill.com will use its latest round of funding to add more partnerships, like the integration it has with QuickBooks that lets customers move their financial data between the two programs without entering anything manually. He also plans to add new features, such as machine learning for data entry, and international payments.<h2>Fintech is on fire </h2>It's been a record year for investments in financial technology companies, according to CB Insights. There were 251 venture capitalist <a href="https://www.cbinsights.com/research/fintech-startups-deals-funding/">investments in the space</a> in the second quarter of 2017 alone. Data is not yet available for the third quarter. Though many financial tech companies are out to disrupt the longstanding financial institutions, banks have also found a happy home in the fintech space. American Express, Bank of America, and Silicon Valley Bank are also investors in Bill.com.JPMorgan Chase, which announced in September that it will integrate Bill.com payment technology into its online banking, also <a href="https://www.bill.com/about-us/press-release/jpmorgan-chase-simplify-sending-and-receiving-business-payments/">has an internal directive</a> to invest in and "build relationships" with fintech companies in order to move the product offerings forward. "We utilize strategic investments in fintech companies to accelerate innovation and digital transformation across JPMorgan Chase," Ana Capella, managing director and head of strategic investments, told Business Insider. "Key drivers for these investments include enhancing the customer experience with new and better products, improving control, compliance, and operational efficiency and protecting the bank's assets."JPMorgan Chase has<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgans-fintech-strategy-2017-4"> made over a dozen investments</a> in this space in the last five years, including in the payment companies LevelUp and GoPago. <div id="categorypromo"><h2>Learn more:</h2><ul><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay1">Credit Card Industry and Market</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay2">Mobile Payment Technologies</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay3">Mobile Payments Industry</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay4">Mobile Payment Market, Trends and Adoption</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay5">Credit Card Processing Industry</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay6">List of Credit Card Processing Companies</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay7">List of Credit Card Processing Networks</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay8">List of Payment Gateway Providers</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay9">M-Commerce: Mobile Shopping Trends</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay10">E-Commerce Payment Technologies and Trends</a></li></ul></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/annoying-hidden-changes-new-iphone-ios11-update-2017-10">The 5 most annoying changes in the new iPhone update - and how to fix them</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Bill.com is the latest fintech heavyweight, with a $742.8 million valuation and big-name backers

Welcome to our new <keyword id="1987076" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Payments-Insights">Payments Insights</keyword> newsletter, a morning email with the top news and analysis on the digital payments industry, produced by <keyword id="1736808" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="BI-Intelligence">BI Intelligence</keyword>. 
<a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/biipaymentsform" target="_blank">Click here to sign up for Payment Insights today, and receive it every morning in your inbox</a>.

<div class="image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><a title_source="REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/52b842aeeab8ea6c5d3faf9e-960/china-trade-shipping-2.jpg"></a><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&amp;VBID=2C0BXZLW9FC8K&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1541&amp;RH=842#/SearchResult_VPage&amp;VBID=2C0BXZLW9FC8K&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1541&amp;RH=842&amp;PN=2">REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach</a></div></div>
THE BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS PAYMENTS SYSTEM IS RIPE FOR DISRUPTION: Moving money can be a slow and expensive process for large corporations. For example, when a business wants to make a large purchase from a supplier, the legacy payments system requires the purchasing business to get a letter of credit from a financial institution which guarantees payment to the supplier. The bank that issues the letter of credit often charges high interest rates, and transactions can take many days to process. 
<keyword id="1987077" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Traxpay">TRAXPAY</keyword> GOES AFTER A $300 TRILLION B2B PAYMENTS MARKET: Traxpay, a Silicon Valley- and Frankfurt-based start-up, is disrupting the legacy system with a payment solution akin to PayPal, but for business-to-business transactions. The system allows a company that plans on making a purchase to transfer the purchase amount to a cloud-based Traxpay account. The money is disbursed to the supplier in real-time as the contract and invoice terms are met. "B2B trade is in the midst of a massive shift to e-commerce, and the vast majority of today's $300 trillion in commercial transactions will be conducted online in the next three to five years," says Traxpay's CEO John Brakeman in an interview with Forbes. (<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2013/12/20/goodbye-to-paper-invoices-basware-makes-e-commerce-electronic/" target="_blank">Forbes</a>)
In other news...
MORE ON GOPAGO-AMAZON: More details are emerging on Amazon's reported acquisition of GoPago. It seems as though Amazon and DoubleBeam teamed up to buy different parts of GoPago, according to TechCrunch. (<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/21/amazon-bought-gopagos-mobile-payment-tech-and-productengineering-team-doublebeam-bought-the-pos-business/" target="_blank">TechCrunch</a>)
<keyword id="302749" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Alibaba">Alibaba</keyword>, China's Amazon equivalent, has a tool called Yu'E Bao that is competing directly with traditional banks. It allows people to store funds online and accrue interest, much as they would at a traditional bank (in theory, people will eventually use these funds for e-commerce purchases). The service already has 30 million people signed up. Tencent's WeChat is rumored to be building a similar platform. (<a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/58dfd7ce-63d8-11e3-98e2-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2oIwtIPd5" target="_blank">Financial Times</a>)
The New York Times has an in-depth article on eBay's strategy for competing with Amazon. The article also takes in Wal-Mart and Uber as examples of digital payments innovation, but says PayPal does have a major advantage: "PayPal has 137 million active users, and millions of them have downloaded the PayPal app. PayPal's head start has enabled it to create a greater variety of payment options than other companies offer."
A PATH TO BRICKS-AND MORTAR: As the New York Times notes, getting consumers to adopt a digital wallet is valuable to companies like eBay because it allows for an easy transition into bricks-and-mortar retail which accounts for around 90% of retail sales. While the value of the digital wallet is clear to e-commerce giants, the real challenge is providing consumers with a digital wallet that is a compelling substitute for cash and credit cards. (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/magazine/ebays-strategy-for-taking-on-amazon.html?pagewanted=1&amp;_r=2&amp;&amp;gwh=AD6DE4832B844DC185E74A7DECFD6080&amp;gwt=pay" target="_blank">New York Times</a>)
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) says it is not going to stop businesses from accepting Bitcoin. Singapore is beginning to be seen as a challenger to Switzerland in terms of private banking. (<a href="http://www.techinasia.com/singapore-government-decides-interfere-bitcoin/" target="_blank">Tech in Asia</a>)
Flipkart, an Indian online retailer, is extending its payment technology to consumers. The service, PayZippy, will allow customers to store their payment information and use it to purchase goods and services from e-commerce sites without having to re-enter their payment information. The service is similar to Amazon's "Log in and Pay with Amazon" service. <a href="http://www.paymentssource.com/news/flipkart-launches-its-consumer-side-of-payzippy-3016398-1.html" target="_blank">(Payments Source)</a>
WELCOME TO PAYMENTS INSIGHTS. This is our new newsletter covering all things payments. Don't forget to <a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/biipaymentsform" target="_blank">sign up</a> and get it every morning in your inbox. Please email <a href="mailto:johnh@businessinsider.com">johnh@businessinsider.com</a> or BI Intelligence director <a href="mailto:mballve@businessinsider.com" target="_blank">mballve@businessinsider.com</a> with news and tips.
Overstock.com will begin accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment early next year. "I think we'll pick up ... the market share of people who'd prefer to pay in Bitcoin," says CEO Patrick Byrne. (<a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-overstockcom-20131220,0,6736525.story" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times</a>) 
A new survey from PayPal turned up a few interesting facts on shopper behavior. Among them - 11% of respondents said they shop online while totally naked! (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/naked-online-shopping-2013-12" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>)
Merchants are showing signs of interest in accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment. Bitpay, a Bitcoin payments processor, recorded 6,296 transactions on Black Friday this year compared to 99 recorded on Black Friday last year. (<a href="http://www.paymentssource.com/news/more-merchants-take-bitcoin-even-as-currencys-price-see-saws-3016399-1.html" target="_blank">Payments Source</a>)
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada released a study outlining the risks associated with using mobile devices to channel transactions. The study looks at what sorts of protections Canadian consumers are entitled to when they complete transactions using mobile devices. (<a href="http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/Eng/resources/researchSurveys/Documents/FCAC_Mobile_Payments_Consumer_Protection_accessible_EN.pdf" target="_blank">Financial Consumer Agency of Canada</a>) 
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A 'PayPal For Businesses' Promises To Completely Transform The Way Companies Pay One Another

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnptyler/2487284395/in/photostream/">Flickr/johntyler</a>The Whisper app is nearing 3 billion monthly uniques.</div></div></div>Howdy! Here's some tech news for you this morning.
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jerry-seinfelds-wife-spent-415-during-ubers-surge-pricing-2013-12">A lot of people are still up in arms over Uber's expensive surge pricing</a>. But here's why <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-uber-shouldnt-change-its-surge-pricing-2013-12">Uber shouldn't change a thing.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304403804579263371125671670-lMyQjAxMTAzMDEwNjExNDYyWj">You may start seeing Facebook-sold video ads in your News Feed this Thursday.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/16/nsa-surveillance-60-minutes-cbs-facts">60 Minutes ran a special on the NSA that had a lot of flaws.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/12/16/an-nsa-coworker-remembers-the-real-edward-snowden-a-genius-among-geniuses/">Here's what an NSA coworker remembers about Edward Snowden: "The kid was a genius among geniuses."</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/whisper-2013-12">Whisper, an app that encourages people to share things they'd never put on Facebook, nears 3 billion monthly pageviews.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tinder-trending-feature-almost-launched-2013-12">Meet-up app Tinder nearly launched a trending feature but changed its mind at the last minute.</a> CEO Sean Rad felt it'd be a double-edge sword.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-memo-patch-execs-tell-employees-patch-is-not-dead-despite-what-they-read-in-the-new-york-times-2013-12">AOL's Patch isn't dead, according to a leaked internal memo.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/16/amazon-reportedly-buys-mobile-payments-startup-gopago-working-on-an-ambitious-new-project/">There's a report circling in Italian newspapers that Amazon bought Square competitor Gopago.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thedesk.matthewkeys.net/2013/12/16/exclusive-twitter-working-on-edit-feature-for-tweets/">Twitter may be working on a way to let users edit tweets once they're live.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/16/5217892/google-said-to-be-testing-smart-thermostats-to-save-home-energy-use">Google is going after Nest.</a> It's said to be testing its own line of smart, energy-saving thermostats.</li>
</ol>

10 Tech Things You Need To Know This Morning

<keyword id="1738613" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mobile-Insights">Mobile Insights</keyword> is a daily newsletter from <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">BI Intelligence</a> delivered first thing every morning exclusively to <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">BI Intelligence</a> subscribers. <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=MI&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">Sign up for a free trial of BI Intelligence today</a>. 

<div class="image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><a title_source="Screenshot" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/52b044886bb3f7cc0e9b44c3-960/google-maps-top-of-app-store-1.png"></a>Screenshot</div></div>The ratings system in app stores, whereby users rate <keyword id="6354741" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Apps">apps</keyword> between one and five stars, needs fixing.
Many high-level developers are up in arms about many apps' pop-up review prompts, claiming they are no better than a spammy Web browser pop-up ad. They are calling for Apple to ban these intrusive "Rate This App" dialogs. 
As a developer, it is natural to want to present users with the cleanest, most streamlined user experience possible. But the catch-22 behind the sentiment is that too many developers are dependent on these prompts to generate more ratings.
<a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/market-your-app-in-a-growing-app-economy-2013-7" target="_blank">High app ratings drive higher download rates</a>, which in turn lead to greater revenue potential for all developers. And there isn't really a more effective review-generating alternative to these pop-up dialogs. 
Once a user downloads an app, the reality is that there are fewer opportunities to get more income from that user.
Because of this, a review becomes essential to the developer. It acts as a form of marketing that will be seen by the next potential customer. So what's the solution?
Ideally, developers themselves will come up with a more effective ratings vehicle, one that would be less intrusive, perhaps by being better integrated with the app experience. Or, platform operators such as Google and Apple could make changes to the structure of their app stores or the app review system, in order to make developers less focused on getting stars. For example, they might develop an algorithm that scrapes and analyzes text-based reviews to give an app a score, which would remove developers' incentives to collected five-star reviews at all costs. 
The "Rate This App" controversy was taken up by iOS-focused writer and developer <a href="http://daringfireball.net/linked/2013/12/05/eff-your-review" target="_blank">John Gruber</a>, and was further commented upon in the Apple developer community by developer <a href="http://unretrofied.com/blog/2013/12/app-store-review-prompts" target="_blank">Marco Arment</a> and blogger <a href="http://unretrofied.com/blog/2013/12/app-store-review-prompts" target="_blank">Chris Gonzalez</a>. 
In other news...
Apple is building a proprietary real-time ad bidding exchange that will help automate the sale of in-app ads, so that the rest of its iAds team can focus on iTunes Radio. (<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/apple-building-rtb-platform-sell-app-ads-154523" target="_blank">AdWeek</a>)
Amazon has acquired mobile payments company Gopago, which specializes in apps for iOS and Android that allow for customers to purchase a good from their phone before picking it up in the store. (<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/16/amazon-reportedly-buys-mobile-payments-startup-gopago-working-on-an-ambitious-new-project/" target="_blank">TechCrunch</a>)
Samsung has come out saying it wants to sell 330 million smartphone units during 2014. To do so, it will debut a brand new low-cost handset, the Galaxy Core Advance. (<a href="http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/12/16/samsung-announces-galaxy-core-advance-budget-smartphone-arriving-2014/#f85e08_4" target="_blank">The Next Web</a>)
Promoted accounts ads on Twitter will now be appearing on all mobile devices. (<a href="http://allthingsd.com/20131216/twitter-promoted-account-ads-for-mobile-go-mainstream/" target="_blank">All Things Digital</a>)
In order to sell more units of the Kindle Fire HDX, Amazon is offering potential new customers a 9-month payment plan for the tablet. The main goal of Kindle Fire products is that they be used as a platform for customers to purchase Amazon products, content and more. (<a href="http://allthingsd.com/20131215/amazon-really-really-wants-to-sell-more-kindle-fire-hdx-tablets/" target="_blank">All Things Digital</a>)
Tech writer Tim Bajarin thinks Google will spin off its Motorola division and that the PC market may actually grow in 2014. Here are some of his other predictions for the new year. (<a href="http://techpinions.com/tech-predictions-for-2014/25826" target="_blank">Tech Opinions</a>)
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<a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/a-social-engagement-primer-2013-12" target="_blank">A Social Engagement Primer: A Portrait Of Time-Spend And Activity On The Top Social Networks</a>
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The App Store Ratings System Is Broken

Welcome to our new Payments Insider newsletter, a morning email with the top news and analysis on the digital payments industry, produced by <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=PINSIGHTSutm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" target="_blank">BI Intelligence</a>. 
<a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/biipaymentsform" target="_blank">Click here to sign up for Payments Insider today, and receive it every morning in your inbox</a>.

HOW MUCH OF PAYMENTS NEWS IS HYPE? PYMNTs makes a great point in an article on the payments space as a whole: Many of the biggest stories in payments are based on hearsay: PayPal is rumored to have pitched Apple on a mobile payments partnership, Amazon is rumored to be developing a mobile point-of-sale solution using the Kindle Fire, Amazon is rumored to have acquired GoPago, and Apple might be getting into payments just because CEO Tim Cook said mobile payments were intriguing. Many initiatives are in a shadowy investment/development stage. We concur with PYMNTS but will keep trying to weed out hype and gossip, to find the substantive news. (<a href="http://www.pymnts.com/briefing-room/mobile/playmakers/2014/as-the-mobile-payments-world-turns" target="_blank">PYMNTS</a>)
THE U.S. POST OFFICE SHOULD COMPETE WITH BANKS: A provocative argument from Reuters blogger Felix Salmon that the troubled postal service should move more deeply into financial services, particularly for the surprisingly significant slice of the U.S. population that does not have access to bank and credit card accounts. (<a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2014/02/03/why-the-post-office-needs-to-compete-with-banks/" target="_blank">Reuters</a>)
WELCOME, INSIDERS: Don't forget to sign up and get it every morning in your inbox. Please email johnh@businessinsider.com or BI Intelligence director mballve@businessinsider.com with news and tips.
HEARTLAND TO ISO - STOP GOUGING: Heartland Payment Systems has accused one of its Independent Sales Organization partners of illegally inflating the interchange fees charged to merchants. (<a href="http://cardnotpresent.com/news/cnp-news-feb14/Heartland_Suit_Accuses_Mercury_of_Inflating_Interchange_Fees_-_Feb__3,_2014/" target="_blank">CNP</a>)
QUOTE OF THE DAY - "The main obstacles for mobile payments are the operators." - Oleg Firer, CEO of mobile payment company Net Element, who argues that wireless carriers don't understand that they need to work more closely with banks. (<a href="http://www.thecorner.eu/world-economy/main-obstacle-mobile-payments-operators/35064/">The Corner</a>)
MOBILE PAYMENTS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: The revenue potential in subsaharan Africa from electronic transactions is between $7.7 to $16 billion annually, according to McKinsey. That suggests a total electronic payment transaction volume somewhere between $385 billion and $800 billion annually. The estimate uses Kenya, where 70% of all transactions are electronic, as a model for the rest of the region. McKinsey assumes that the rest of the region will catch up to Kenya in terms of peer-to-peer payments. (<a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/financial_services/Sub_Saharan_Africa_A_major_potential_revenue_opportunity_for_digital_payments?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1402">McKinsey</a>) 
U.S. BANCORP GETS INTO MOBILE COMMERCE. In partnership with British mobile payments company Monetise, the bank is white-labeling a mobile commerce app, Peri, which it hopes will catch on with retailers, according to American Banker. The app will allow users to immediately purchase items from print catalogues or glossy magazines, based on image recognition technology. (<a href="http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/179_23/first-look-us-bank-developing-mobile-shopping-software-1065381-1.html">American Banker</a>)
A SOLUTION IN SEARCH OF A PROBLEM? Payments Insider covered this app some weeks ago, when U.S. Bank released <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ_k2kVb8_o&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">a YouTube video</a> showing how it might work. Now, it looks like it's getting to do-or-die stage for Peri. We'll see if any retailers adopt it. To us, it seems like a lot of bells and whistles for little benefit. How many consumers need the "added convenience" of easy, instant mobile ordering based on a print ad or catalog, when a simple Google or Amazon search can probably pull up the same product? 
CITI IS ADDING FEATURES TO ITS MOBILE APP: The retail bank recently announced the launch of its redesigned app in the U.S. One new feature allows users to check their balances, and deposit checks without logging in. The feature is in a limited beta stage and will be rolled out nationally later this year. (<a href="http://www.paymentsnews.com/2014/02/citi-updates-mobile-app-to-add-features-streamline-experience.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PaymentsNews+%28Payments+News%29">Payments News</a>)
AN INTERNATIONAL FIELD GUIDE TO BITCOIN REGS: The U.S. Library of Congress has released a report on how different countries around the world regulate Bitcoin. Should be a great night-table book for Bitcoin aficionados. (Library Of Congress - <a href="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/assets/3952017/2014-010233_Law_Library_of_Congress_Bitcoin_jurisdictional_survey.pdf" target="_blank">PDF</a> download)
DEVELOPERS SHOULD WARM UP TO ALTERNATIVE ANDROID APP STORES: In a guest post at VentureBeat, Rain Rannu of mobile payments company Fortumo argues that developers should look to alternative Android app stores in emerging markets - some of them tied to manufacturers and carriers - in order to better monetize their apps. While Google Play typically asks for a credit card in emerging markets, where many consumers don't have one, these alternative Android stores offer local payments options like carrier billing, so that customers can easily pay for app downloads and in-app purchases through their cell phone bills. (<a href="http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/02/why-android-apps-make-less-money-and-how-to-change-that/" target="_blank">VentureBeat</a>)
KREBS ON TOUR: Security watchdog and blogger Brian Krebs will be the keynote speaker at the May 2014 Card Not Present Expo in Orlando, where he will speak about the recent threats to network and payments security. (<a href="http://cardnotpresent.com/news/cnp-news-feb14/Security_Watchdog_Krebs_to_Headline_2014_CNP_Expo_-_Feb__3,_2014/" target="_blank">CNP</a>)
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There's Too Much Hype In The Digital Payments Industry 

<a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=P-NN-PTRENDS-1&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" onclick="this.href = this.href + '-' + window.location.search.substr(1).replace(/\&amp;|\=/g, '-');">BI Intelligence</a> has combed top trade publications and analyst reports to create our top 10 list of the trends that will shape digital payments in 2014. These are the predictions that either came up again and again, or that echoed our own analysis and data. 
Here are the developments in the payments space to look out for:
1. NFC will die. Consumers will ultimately decide whether NFC will become popular, and so far the technology isn't proving compelling enough to spur widespread adoption. NFC allows a smartphone to communicate with a payment terminal at a physical store, via a brief tap. This allows for "walletless," or phone-powered payments. But tap-and-pay phone transactions aren't much more convenient than cash and credit cards. "Instead of swiping or using a PIN pad, they're tapping. How is that really better? How is that changing your life? People don't want that," says PayPal President David Marcus. We agree with Marcus: 2014 will be the year that NFC goes away as a real factor in the debate over the future of payments. Although it will carve out a role in some markets where it's already influential, such as China and South Korea. (See our report: "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mobile-offline-retail-and-e-commerce-2013-12" target="_blank">Mobile Is The Future Of Payments - Here's How Much Runway There Is For Growth</a>.")
2. Bluetooth Low Energy will conquer retail. BLE is the NFC rival that really will revolutionize payments and commerce in 2014. The Bluetooth Low Energy communications frequency has a range of up to 50 meters and can be used for a host of applications including payments, peer-to-peer fund transfers, as well as notifications and offers as part of in-store loyalty and marketing campaigns. In a recent report, we discussed how beacons, which serve as BLE transmitters, can help create indoor communication systems for these purposes. From the perspective of the consumer, the technology is superior to NFC because it doesn't require close proximity for payments, and BLE-powered payments can happen nearly automatically - for example, as a consumer exits a store with their merchandise. This means that it can be more convenient than plastic credit cards, or cash. Bluetooth Low Energy is on over 200 million iOS devices already in conjunction with Apple's iBeacon platform, and many Android devices also support it. (See our report: "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/beacons-and-ibeacons-create-a-new-market-2013-12" target="_blank">Beacons: What They Are, How They Work, And Why Apple's iBeacon Technology Is Ahead Of The Pack</a>.")
3. Bitcoin hype will die down, and more will use it for what it was meant for - a means of global exchange. Bitcoin is not going to lose its volatility in the next year. The wild price oscillations will continue. So will the convoluted and technical debates about what it is and whether it's a harebrained scheme or not. But one thing will change: People will no longer talk just about Bitcoin's price, and they'll start to see it for what it was always meant to be: an online instrument for powering transactions and moving value. The infrastructure for bitcoin payments will grow more sophisticated, and platforms will proliferate that will eliminate transaction risk when two parties transact in bitcoins. So, individuals and businesses will be able to transact in bitcoins across the globe without worrying that the value will collapse before they can exchange it for another currency. It will become more common - though not yet mainstream - for e-commerce and physical retailers to accept bitcoins at point-of-sale.
<a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=P-NN-PTRENDS-1&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile">Click here for a free two week trial to BI Intelligence</a>, and gain instant access to our morning newsletters and our data-driven reports covering the top trends in the digital payments and mobile payments industries. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><a title_source="BII" title_caption="Apple's outpacing competitors in number of accounts" class="zoomin" href="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52964cc5ecad047f18c88949-960/active%20accounts.png"></a>BIIApple's outpacing competitors in number of accounts</div></div>
4. Amazon will try to make friends with offline retailers, and offer them a payments platform. Late in 2013, Amazon reportedly acquired GoPago, a provider of mobile payments apps and compatible point-of-sale retail software. With the acquisition, it looks like Amazon may be planning to expand its payments offerings into the world of bricks-and-mortar retail. We think there is a good chance Amazon will release a competitively-priced payments solution targeted at bricks-and-mortar retailers sometime in the next year. Why would bricks-and-mortar retailers sign on for anything from Amazon, which is hardly the best friend of offline retail? Amazon may offer them insights into consumer behavior and shopping habits, or rock-bottom credit card-processing fees. After all, undercutting the competition on price terms - even at the cost of short-term profitability - has always been Amazon's way.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><a title_source="BII" title_caption="The payments industry has seen a wave of deals" class="zoomin" href="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52b34e4a6bb3f7d060f15456-960/payments%20m&amp;a.png"></a>BIIThe payments industry has seen a wave of deals</div></div>5. The payments industry will consolidate and mature at a rapid pace, with a bevy of acquisitions and a handful of IPOs, including Square's. The initial disruption in online and offline payments has already taken place. We expect to see tons of acquisitions - of consumer-facing services and business-to-business players - as the biggest players in the space scoop up talent from across the industry. Possible acquisition targets include Stripe, Dwolla, LevelUp, Bill.com, and many others.
6. Carrier billing is going to explode in emerging markets. One of the biggest problems facing consumers in emerging markets is that they can't get access to credit or credit cards. Direct carrier billing solves this problem by allowing mobile users to add purchases to their mobile bills. Credit card companies aren't ready to move into many of these low-income markets yet, so carriers can get away with playing their role as payments networks and taking a big slice of revenue from developers who integrate carrier billing into their apps. Demand and lack of competition in these markets is going to lead to a bonanza, and big carriers in developed markets would be wise to increase their exposure to markets where carrier billing might take off.
7. Square will sputter as it tries to grow its point-of-sale market share and cross into e-commerce. Square is in no small part responsible for the disruption that is taking place in the offline payments space, and its success has largely grown out of powering transactions for small and medium-sized retailers with its software and simple hardware that transform tablets and phones into mobile cash registers. But competition is building for offline point-of-sale payments and gaining further POS market share will be an uphill battle. With Square Market, Square has also entered the already competitive e-commerce space. The company will struggle to achieve the same level of growth as it has achieved in prior years. Still, as we mentioned before, it will IPO before year's end.
8. The mobile wallet is going to be dramatically reconceived. Only 11% of people in the United States have used a mobile wallet, according to Forrester. We define a mobile wallet as an app or mobile site that collects a consumer's payment information and credit card numbers and helps them transact offline and online. Lots of wallet apps are nice from a design perspective, but there just isn't a very compelling reason to use them. Credit cards are still easier. In other words, there's a "convenience parity" problem. Mobile wallets have to become at least as convenient as credit cards and cash before they take the place of either. We think mobile wallets will succeed if they reinvent themselves as all-in-one apps that will integrate all of a consumer's shopping and finance needs into one place: rewards and loyalty programs, tickets and boarding passes, wish lists, spending trackers, personal budgeting programs, etc. One early example of this approach is Bluebird, an app-based debit card and personal finance platform created jointly by Wal-Mart and American Express.
9. Retail banks will also compete for mobile and online audiences with beefed up personal banking apps. The move toward mobile-mediated shopping and finance is altering the relationship between retail banks and their customers. In particular, the relationship is increasingly taking place online and on mobile rather than in physical banks. In order to differentiate themselves from competitors, banks will become interested in offering apps that go beyond just simply checking your balance, paying your credit card, and remote check deposit. They will try to build all-in-one multi-device payments and finance platforms similar to the mobile wallets described above. Why is this important? Because banks are not immune from disruption and disintermediation. Already, software-based startups like Simple are creating interfaces that basically act as a new layer between banks and their customers. (See our report: "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-mobile-banking-markets-horse-race-2013-10" target="_blank">The Mobile Banking Horse Race Has Only Just Begun, Here's How It's Shaping Up</a>.")
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><a title_source="BII" title_caption="E-commerce goes mobile" class="zoomin" href="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/52a0a4a36bb3f73b626381a6-960/mobile's%20share%20of%20e-commerce%20sales.png"></a>BIIE-commerce goes mobile</div></div>10. Mobile commerce will account for a third of holiday shopping in 2014. Mobile commerce accounted for around 20% of e-commerce sales during the Black Friday weekend this year. As retailers release and improve their mobile apps, and tablets proliferate, we expect that mobile commerce is not only going to grow, but accelerate. Next holiday season we think one in every three dollars spent on online retail purchases will come through mobile devices. (See our report: "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mobile-retail-and-commerce-trends-2014-1" target="_blank">Retailers Are Driving Huge Increases In Mobile Shopping And Buying - This Is How</a>.")
<a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=P-NN-PTRENDS-1&amp;utm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" onclick="this.href = this.href + '-' + window.location.search.substr(1).replace(/\&amp;|\=/g, '-');">Click here for a free two week trial to BI Intelligence</a>, and receive our in-depth coverage, charts, and daily newsletters covering all the top trends in the payment industry. Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

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