Payfone Inc. has closed an $11 million round of Series B financing, which is one of the biggest investments in the mobile payments space to date.

Movie ticket vendor Fandango’s commerce-enabled Android application has surpassed 1.5 million downloads since its launch at the beginning of the year.

First Federal Savings Bank now offers mobile payments to its customers and local businesses to reduce costs, improve security and enable rewards programs.

Mobile payments for digital goods is a growing trend, with gaming sites and social networks creating huge demand for user-friendly purchase mechanisms.

Patelco Credit Union has launched person-to-person mobile payments and integrated the service into its mobile banking platform.

McDonald’s use of mobile technology proves Near Field Communications will be the next big thing.

Zong’s top executive cited his company’s four newest hires as an indication of the robust growth of the mobile payments space.

Waspit is a start-up seeking to carve out a niche in the fast-growing mobile payments space, which Gartner projects will grow into a $633 billion market by 2014.

Progressive rock/jam band Umphrey’s McGee is letting attendees of its concerts use their mobile phones to buy a recording of the live performance.

Banks need to reinforce security for their mobile payment services or else face a litany of problems, according to an Ovum research report.