Re/code:
CurrentC, the payments app being created by a consortium of big retailers known as MCX, may not launch widely this year as originally planned, MCX CEO Brian Mooney told Re/code in an interview on Tuesday. The company will begin a public pilot of its app in Columbus, Ohio in a few weeks and will not rush a wider rollout if the product is not ready, he said.
“This is a long game,” Mooney said. “Certainly going faster is always better — that’s not necessarily a debatable point. But we’re going to do it right.”
I don’t think there’s much doubt, after RiteAid and Best Buy and others have changed their plans, that CurrentC, at least in its present form, is DOA.
That doesn’t sound very current, see?
Too many cooks, I’m guessing.
Sometimes, greed, doesn’t work. Also see Wall Street circa 2008.
This one is really driven by Walmart. The majority of their customers still use cash and they are trying to stop them from converting to other forms of payment where they will pay fees. Namely credit cards.
However it is going to slow down their checkouts so they’ll have to do the math on which is costlier.
I think Sisyphus has an easier job than Mooney will when MCX finally rolls out CurrentC.
From what I’ve heard of how it works, CurrentC is all about merchant needs. But I’m not going to work harder to give you money. If CurrentC is harder or more intrusive (and it’s definitely that unless they’ve changed a lot), then I and I bet most others will just use our credit cards if they refuse to take Apple Pay. If they penalize that with a price difference, I’ll just shop elsewhere.
At the end of the day, I look out for my interests. Not the merchant’s, not the credit card company’s. MINE. Right now, Apple Pay is as easy as a credit card and more secure so that is what I use whenever I can.
Too many crooks maybe?
With exclusivity contracts expiring before it hits market, Walmart will be the only one using CurrentC which means it is not an Apple Pay competitor.