In more bad news for MCX, Best Buy customers can now use Apple Pay to buy electronics online, with the physical stores to follow later this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said on today’s Apple earnings call and Best Buy confirmed.
Best Buy was a strong boost for the unreleased CurrentC, a mobile payment service
MCX crushed as Best Buy moves ahead with Apple Pay
pushed by the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) — a company created by big businesses like Walmart, 7-Eleven, and CVS drug stores to help merchants dodge credit card processing fees.
When CurrentC was first introduced back in late 2014 — not long after Apple revealed its plans for Apple Pay — Best Buy threw all of its considerable weight behind it.
Where most mobile payment systems, including Apple Pay and Google Wallet, only make you wave your phone in the general direction of the payment pad, CurrentC makes you scan a QR code displayed on your phone.
But today, while mobile payments is still a very young industry, with relatively little adoption overall, the numbers of people who want to buy physical stuff with their phones is only growing.
And despite a late entry, Apple Pay is the far and away leader in mobile payments. CurrentC has been criticized as cumbersome and insecure.
Best Buy may not like it, but at this stage, it needs Apple Pay if it wants to keep up. And if other major retailers swallow the bitter pill, it could be a sign of worse things to come for CurrentC.
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