Masterpass Extends Support Among Smaller Merchants

Mastercard has secured a new partner for its Masterpass digital payments solution: It’s now supported by Sage Payment Solutions. The support enables Masterpass as a payment option with the more than 10,000 merchants currently using Sage POS terminals and other Sage solutions.

The move comes the same week that Apple and Square announced a new promotional initiative for the mPayment platform in which merchants using Square payment solutions are encouraged to set up Apple Pay marketing materials in exchange for waived transaction fees. Both efforts seek to popularize their respective mobile payment platforms among smaller and medium-sized merchants.

These are modest efforts in the context of a digital wallet market expected to reach a value of $1.35 trillion this year, according to a recent report from Juniper Research. But they signal heating competition, with Mastercard’s Masterpass emerging as a serious rival against Apple Pay in a field still offering plenty of room for growth.