Mobile point-of-sale

Merchants are interested in new payments technology, but there's still an understanding gap that keeps cash a viable option.

The cashierless Amazon Go store is barely more than an experiment — it's live in only one location in Seattle, with plans for a handful of stores to follow this year — but it has already sparked a race to put similar models in place.

The City of London, in collaboration with iZettle, is introducing the world’s first contactless card payment scheme for street performers. And as PayPal completes its purchase of iZettle, it's likely that this technology will spread to the U.S.

For some, the fast pace of change in payments technology needs to slow down for consumers and merchants to catch up. For others, the technology must evolve because it is the consumer and merchant seeking change — all in the name of an easier, mobile experience.

Square's taking on hundreds of millions of added debt to battle PayPal, indicating that the simple business model of turning a smartphone into a point of sale terminal is largely a thing of the past.

PayPal has agreed to acquire iZettle—often called the Square of Europe—in a move that could blunt Square’s prospects in key markets.

Retail and hospitality payments software provider Veea Inc. is partnering with cross-border mobile payments provider Citcon to allow businesses using Veea services in the U.S. to accept Alipay and WeChat Pay mobile payments.

Plate IQ has integrated its automated accounts payable technology for restaurants with the new Square for Restaurants point-of-sale system.

Within sports venues, providers want to handle payments and integrate loyalty and other services through every facet of the ballpark and teams operating those facilities.

Many technology developers yearn to invent the future of payments through software, but Toast is also reaching to the past by trying to perfect the hardware that surrounds the new digital tools.