Recently, a new competitor,
CurrentC, has surfaced.
The debut of Walmart Pay followed by a few weeks the public testing of
CurrentC and appeared to reflect Walmart's determination not to miss the opportunity to get into the mobile payment game because the MCX option was not ready for prime time.
CurrentC, the merchant-based wallet from MCX, is expected to launch this year, with desirable capabilities such as rewards, contextual offers and loyalty features--things that are currently missing from Apple Pay.
Though Apple Pay has worked hard to partner with multiple retailers-Nike, Walgreens, Subway and Whole Foods among them-other major retailers such as Walmart, Kmart, 7-Eleven, Rite Aid and Best Buy are snubbing the system in favour of their own mobile payments app,
CurrentC. The competing apps are very similar, but
CurrentC currently has more than 40 retail partners, while Apple Pay stands around 30.
The Economist recently highlighted the pitched battle between Apple Pay and
CurrentC, which has pushed the technology further into the spotlight.
Apple still requires retailers to pay swipe fees, but others like
CurrentC have no fees and can be used with all brands of mobile phones.
Rite Aid also participates in the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) network, which uses the
CurrentC mobile payment platform.
Riordan said that at the same time, the financial industry is watching how mobile payment systems such as Apple Pay and
CurrentC will affect card use in the future with their added security features.