Today in the Connected Economy: Apple Showcases Next-Gen CarPlay

Today in the connected economy, Apple previews the next generation of its CarPlay feature, another indication of how cars are becoming more like smartphones.

Also, Mastercard has unveiled its Pay by Link payments feature at Money 20/20 Europe, and travel app Hopper unveils new features as it sees a rising demand among vacationers.

Smartphone Interfaces Are Controlling Functions in Cars

Apple says the next generation of CarPlay will perform more functions and fill more screens, letting the driver’s iPhone communicate with the vehicle’s real-time systems and display on the instrument cluster information like speed, fuel level and temperature.

“We’ve been working with automakers to reinvent the in-car experience across all of the driver’s screens,” Emily Schubert, senior manager of car experience engineering at Apple, said during the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

The new CarPlay will be able to accommodate screens of varying shapes and sizes and will let drivers choose from instrument cluster options with different designs, backgrounds and layouts.

“Cars have changed a lot, with larger-sized screens and more of them throughout the car,” Schubert said. “There’s an opportunity for iPhone to play an even more important role.”

With Vacation Demand Rising, Travel App Hopper Unveils New Tools

With travelers juggling the desire for summer vacations and consumer anxiety, travel app Hopper has debuted a suite of flexibility products designed to help people save on their trips.

Hopper CEO Frederic Lalonde announced the new products on the company’s website, saying their arrival coincides with an increase in the company’s search demand, which has risen by 18% since the beginning of the year.

“And while demand usually rises during the warmer months, searches for domestic travel this summer have grown 50% faster than in the first four months of 2019,” he said. “The surge in demand, rising jet fuel costs and limited capacity are putting pressure on airfare, along with hotel and car rental rates, leading to the highest prices for summer travel we’ve seen in years.”

Mastercard Debuts Open Banking Feature ‘Pay By Link’

Mastercard has unveiled its Pay by Link payments feature at Money 20/20 Europe, using European open banking platform Aiia to let businesses give customers a link so they can pay instantly from anywhere.

Based on open banking payments, Mastercard’s Pay by Link is for customers making payments to accounting, insurance and telecom companies, along with social commerce, payment service providers and utility firms.

“We’re in the process of transforming the way people pay bills,” said Rune Mai, co-founder and CEO of Aiia, a Mastercard company. “With a simple link, we make it easy and secure to pay a bill on the go with a bank account without having to enter or remember payment details.

Marqeta Partners With Western Union for Digital Banking in Europe

Marqeta is working with global money transfer giant Western Union in an arrangement that will see the card issuing platform integrate into Western Union’s digital banking platform in Europe.

While Western Union’s digital banking platform already offers a real-time multi-currency digital wallet, its connection to Marqeta’s card issuing platform will give customers will have access to Western Union’s entire remittance service.

The companies say the partnership capitalizes on Marqeta’s open API card issuing platform while letting Western Union to handle the workflow with real-time insights into card activity. With Marqeta’s help, Western Union can give digital banking customers a global payments solution that can be easily tailored to suit their needs.

Checkout.com Teams With Fireblocks On Stablecoin Settlement Tool

Cloud payments provider Checkout.com has launched its stablecoin settlement solution with the help of crypto payment technology from Fireblocks.

The company says this allows merchants to make settlements around the clock, even on weekends on holidays, thus boosting access to cash flow and reducing operational complexity.

“Checkout.com is the first PSP to have access to Fireblocks’ crypto payouts technology,” the company said. “With this access, Checkout.com is also the first to successfully deploy automatic fiat-to-stablecoin conversion for their merchants as they receive and process funds from customers.”

Airwallex Streamlines Invoice Payments with Expanded Xero Collaboration

Payments platform Airwallex is expanding and extending its long-term partnership with accounting software firm Xero through payment link integration for Xero invoices.

The company says the goal is to streamline how Australian businesses get paid, with a widened collaboration that includes Airwallex’s multi-currency capabilities, which lets users issue and settle invoices in multiple currencies.

“Invoice recipients can now pay in one click, increasing the speed and likelihood of getting paid for our customers, which in turn will improve their business cash flow,” Sam Kothari, Airwallex’s head of growth for ANZ, said in a news release. “We’ve also brought our unique cross-border payment capabilities to this solution to help our customers collect and hold in the currencies that are important to them, avoiding unnecessary conversion fees.”

MatchMove, Maxi-Cash Team on Mobile Banking, Payments

Singapore’s Maxi-Cash, the first pawnbroker listed on the country’s Exchange (SGX), is using MatchMove’s embedded banking platform to power MaxiPAY, its branded mobile application.

The collaboration sees Maxi-Cash use MatchMove’s Lightspeed technology to provide digital banking and prepaid Mastercard.

The company says it aims to provide financial inclusion for Singapore’s migrant workers, who account for 23% of the country’s workforce. And while the pandemic led to greater global digital adoption, MaxiPay says about 50,000 immigrant workers have no bank account.