Two Google employees closely associated with its Google Wallet initiative have recently either left the company or moved on to other projects in a possible reflection of the challenges that Google is facing in the mobile payments space.

Big box retailer Home Depot is ramping up its mobile strategy by testing a PayPal-enabled mobile payment solution at select stores.

PayPal is testing an NFC mobile payments application at two stores in Sweden while it continues to look at other ways to provide access to its payments services.

Looking to make up the revenues lost as a result of new consumer protection rules put into place this fall, banks are reportedly considering a host of new fees, including ones for mobile banking services.

MasterCard has teamed up with mFoundry to offer banks and credit unions more mobile payment options.

Financial institution First Hawaiian Bank is rolling out a mobile set of tools aimed at capturing as many mobile users as possible.

While the recent introduction of the first Google Wallet app is not likely to have much of an impact on sales for the 2011 holiday shopping season, the longer-term benefits for merchants will include better loyalty conversion rates and an increase in qualified traffic.

M-Qube is suing Zong for patent infringement in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California over a mobile trigger messaging system.

PayPal’s suit against Google claiming the latter misappropriated trade secrets reflects the urgency around being the first to market with a viable mobile payments solution.

Reports that Google Inc. will introduce a mobile payment system today are being welcomed by many, and industry experts believe the move could bolster the mobile payment space overall.