Rite Aid and CVS were n’t prescribed Apple Pay launch cooperator , but shoppers armed with new iPhones found that the Chain had near - field communicating poster reader that were compatible with the raw wandering requital system — at least for a few days . Over the weekend , both companiesblocked NFC recognition , unite enraged iPhone and Android users and inspiring design to boycott both chains .
The apothecary’s shop company are members of the Merchant Customer Exchange , a group of retailers developing their ownmobile payment solution called CurrentC. Walmart , Best Buy , Gap , and other major chains are also bewilder their system of weights behind CurrentC , which does n’t roll out until next year . Details of how CurrentC will work are still fuzzed , but we know that the result is a roving app that shunt credit cards — and the associated merchant fees — by linking straightaway to customers ’ checking or saving accounts .
The MCX payment procedure as we sympathize it is nowhere nigh as simple or secure as Apple Pay , though CurrentC is still in development . There are a few key difference , as draft on theCurrentC internet site :
Apple Pay ’s tokenization makes it more safe than a mobile payment provider that stores your fiscal information in the cloud .
The great mobile payments experiment
While CurrentC is being positioned as an NFC challenger , the QR code technology has already been knock as an old - school , ineffective , and insecure way to compensate . But the app will benefit retailers , who can go around merchant credit card fee and chase your shopping habits to pop the question you coupons . The MCX retail group still has time to change or refine its scheme to make it more seamless .
But that wo n’t help the other , vocal jockstrap of contactless payments , who are calling on Rite Aid and CVS to reverse their NFC block . A Rite assistance spokesperson told theNew York Timesthat the company is “ still in the cognitive operation of evaluating ” wandering payment options .
Meanwhile , Apple is working on way to make NFC an essential part of your life . According to a new report fromThe Information(behind a paywall ) , the company is take care at ways to replace certificate card and public transportation circuit card with iPhones .
Apple Pay partner Walgreens abide to profit from the drugstore detritus - up . Apple Pay supporters are already pledge their allegiance to the mountain range , and Rite Aid and CVS wo n’t win over any customer by blocking a technology they ’ve long allowed in favor of an app that is n’t even out yet . In this big mobile defrayal experimentation , CurrentC should contend on its own merits . It could very well succeed — with the accompaniment of some of the biggest retailer in the country , CurrentC is certainly no underdog .
