Apple Pay, Goolge Wallet Update: Major Retailers Are Shutting Down NFC-Enabled Payment Terminals, Thanks To MCX’s CurrentC Platform

From the time "Apple Pay" started making waves in the blogosphere, even before the iPhone 6 was released, Apple has spoken about the partners and tie-ups it has with selected retailers. Most of the retailers that accept Apple Pay service already allow Google Wallet service. However, the shocking news is that many big retailers are starting to block Apple Pay and Google Wallet payments and are moving on to a new, proprietary payment methodology.

The payment system in focus is the CurrentC platform. This upcoming CurrentC platform is backed by Merchant Customer Exchange (aka MCX). For those uninitiated, the MCX is a partnership brought forth in 2012. The big and popular retailers that have partnered to create MCX include Walmart, Target, CVS, Gap, 7-Eleven, Sears, Best Buy and Dunkin Donuts, among others. Moreover, the CurrentC based payment system is still not active in any of the markets and it has no bank backing at this point. Seemingly, this platform will be live only in 2015. And this is the platform blocking Google Wallet, Apple Pay, SoftCard and several other popular mobile-based payment services, according to Phone Arena.

Apparently, starting next year, there will be two types of stores i.e. the stores that are part of MCX circle that accept CurrentC and the rest that opted to go with other payment options. The same site opines that there is a good chance that MCX based payment support will add more retailers when compared to other major payment service supporting retailers. Nevertheless, the mobile payment option should be left for the customer to decide rather than payment platforms fighting it out, says Phone Arena.

As GSM Arena points out, the CurrentC will be launched with a dedicated app for both Android and iOS. Apart from using this platform for payments, users can utilise the app to avail promotional offers from retailers. It is worth noting that, all major gas stations in the U.S. will accept CurrentC based payment option in 2015.

Sometime last week, the pharmacy chain Rite Aid stopped supporting the Apple Pay and Google Wallet payment systems. This sudden change resulted in a public dissatisfaction from its customers that were trying to test Apple's new payment model. Following the footsteps of Rite Aid, other major pharmacy chain CVS is also closing down the NFC functionality of its payment terminals. Out of all the mobile-based payment methods, Google Wallet and Apple Pay seem to have taken the major blow, says MacRumors.

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