They might be trained, question is at what? We will soon see how smart these chimps are.
Apple should leave the CurrentC "hack me" app up for a while. Have you read the reviews? Some very creative writers.
The app will never recover from the one star review Avalanche. Basically three things left for MCX executives to do. One very dumb idea, one mediocre idea, and one very shrewd idea.
Idea 1 - (dumb) Continue on with their plans, bury their collective heads in the sand and yes man themselves into a feeble startup with a grinding slow death, followed by some smart hacker steeling the vital information from the handful of smucks, dumb enough to give out all their information. Could be even more precious if it turns out to be an inside job by a CurrentC employee or contractor.
Idea 2 - (mediocre) Correctly read the writing on the wall, comprehending the massive consumer distaste for data mining, and everyone's ever increasing desire for secure data and transaction. And quietly call it quits, execs go back to Walmart, and lay off the balance of the team.
Oh and release all the participating companies that were in on the plan to make an extra 2 to 3 percent profit. You honestly didn't think they meant to pass it on to the consumers, did you? Dangle a few baubles in front of them. Discount some stuff you raised the price on first.
As for the $500K you skimmed off each participating company, well you had overhead, so it's mostly spent already.
Idea 3 (shrewd) You read the handwriting on the wall and see that your hoped for system won't be accepted and worse you will loose some customers. While other customers may decide to charge even more than before.
Now here is the shrewd part. I already give you credit for correctly assessing your dilemma. But now you really show some smarts and get into quiet negotiations with Apple, Visa, Master Card, and American Express. You broker a deal agreeing to back Apple Pay, work with Apple to develope a rewards system separate from Apple Pay that lets consumer option in via blue tooth in the store. You offer incentives that consumers can choose to join or not.
At same time you negotiate with the credit card companies that with your buy in to embrace Apple Pay, with the added security it provides them from fraud to lower the amount they charge you for each transaction.
You turn the whole thing into a win win relationship. With real negotiating they could also get Google Wallet in on the mix, opening up a whole other group of customers eager to embrace the now burgeoning NFC payment system. So what kind of chimps do we have running MCX?
Cash: $151B
