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MCX CEO Touts Loyalty Perks of CurrentC, Says There Are 'Consequences' for Breaking Exclusivity Terms

The CEO needs to keep his mouth shut

There are great intentions with their program but they have terrible PR.

Guys don't forget credit cards are evil
 
I pull out my phone, I hold up my phone with a QR code that says "I am a customer at lane 6", and now we're each sent a token and a message to the cloud that says "I am the seller" and "I am the buyer and I want to pay for this transaction with the payment instrument that I've selected in my phone."
Click to expand...

This is the MCX guy describing how his system works... seriously?
 
Former Blackberry CEO Thorsten Heins was similarly enthusiastic before the ship he was steering had to completely change course... without him.

Best of luck though...
 
Cash is King.

Always will be. MCX, :apple:pay, google pay etc. Please..
Cash is king no matter what. And nobody cares where one will shop or not!
:cool:
 
My expectation is that in many of the companies that signed on to CurrentC there are discussions on:
1. What will be the cost to us of staying the course and losing AP and GW customers;
2. What will it cost us to regain or replace the lost revenue and income associated with those customers;
3. What will be the cost to drop CurentC in the Quick-term, and then reapply for it somewhere down the road when it is actually available for use;
4. If we don't do 3, and we get 1, will 2 over the mid-term be less than 3.

My expectation is that the answer to 4 will be No, and that within the next week to 10 days, we will see a sizeable number of merchants announcing that they are opening up the NFC terminals to AP and GW. (This timing will be necessary to overcome the lag in information flow and the need to repeat the message a few times prior to the sales season surrounding both before and after Black Friday.
 
Not addressing the issue

MXC is fundamentally flawed because it is built around ACH, which is the whole pitch because it frees merchants from credit card fees. MXC assumes absolutely no liability (great for MXC, terrible for consumers) in the event of a breach. It sounds good to investors, but it is the single important issue as to why MXC is going to crash and burn, and, ultimately, no amount of merchant enrollment volume will save MXC from this reality.

With all due respect, Mr. Davidson, if even the NSA cannot protect against unauthorized data proliferation, it is pathological to assume that MXC has a better security apparatus. Credit card companies and banks have a - very real and immediate - financial interest in protecting against unauthorized access to their systems, yet they still deal with thousands of cases of fraud daily. The reason the credit card companies charge 2-3% is to partially provide the merchant and customers protection from fraud. But MXC has deemed this fee unnecessary and you. have. made. the. wrong. choice.

It isn't about speed of payment, it isn't about the usage of QR codes, it isn't about the participation of big merchants, it isn't about easier loyalty programs or coupons, it isn't about MXC's unfortunate hacking event, it isn't (really) even about saving data in the cloud (my butt)... it is about the core usage of ACH and we both know that isn't something MXC can fix without abandoning the entire product. No amount of marketing or incentives or perks will dissuade me otherwise.
 
redman042 said:
Former Blackberry CEO Thorsten Heins was similarly enthusiastic before the ship he was steering had to completely change course... without him.

Best of luck though...
Click to expand...

So was:
- Blackberry bosses before Heins,
- Blackberry boss after Heins,
- Palm guy, and the second Palm guy;
- Ballmer;
- Nokia guys;
- HP guy after Hurd and before Whitman;
- JC Penney CEO before and after Ron Johnson (same guy in JCP case);

fact is these guys have to sell what they have and FUD what they don't...
 
ChazSch said:
still not buying it....unless i can use Apple Pay

----------



But Debt cards are Angelic
Click to expand...

No difference between credit and debit for the disciplined except for in the former case there are additional warranties for purchases, a 25-day firewall against fraud and a better dispute system, and frequent flyer points. For the latter there are none, or lesser of these, and the money is out of your account immediately.

For a person that is disciplined in spending, and always pays their balance on time, the benefits are manifold, and this helps one to have a higher credit score (which manifests itself as better interest rates on other longer term loans like mortgages or when credit score is used as a proxy for reliability during a vetting process like hiring for instance.)
 
Verge's interviewer should've asked about CurrentC's reliance on using ACH direct debit payment method, which offers little to no protection for customers. To me, that is more detrimental to CurrentC's adoption than it using awkward QR code (MCX CEO referring to Starbuck using legacy QR code is rather laughable, however) or penalizing alternate mobile contactless payment methods.
 
Robert.Walter said:
My expectation is that in many of the companies that signed on to CurrentC there are discussions on:
1. What will be the cost to us of staying the course and losing AP and GW customers;
2. What will it cost us to regain or replace the lost revenue and income associated with those customers;
3. What will be the cost to drop CurentC in the Quick-term, and then reapply for it somewhere down the road when it is actually available for use;
4. If we don't do 3, and we get 1, will 2 over the mid-term be less than 3.

My expectation is that the answer to 4 will be No, and that within the next week to 10 days, we will see a sizeable number of merchants announcing that they are opening up the NFC terminals to AP and GW. (This timing will be necessary to overcome the lag in information flow and the need to repeat the message a few times prior to the sales season surrounding both before and after Black Friday.
Click to expand...

You know, you bring up a good point.. and I know that the customer base for both isn't a high percentage but what if some chain included "ApplePay and GW supported in all our retail outlets!" as part of a TV or print ad. Might drive a few extra dollars during black Friday.
 
Easy solution... Apple and Google, pull their app from your app stores and/or prevent it from launching. How successful can CurrentC be w/o an app? You block us we block you.
 
Mr. Gates said:
I don't care about his explanation, if they want anybody to take their product seriously, they need to explain why anybody would possibly want to use their system instead of Apple pay. What advantage does it have over apple pay?
Click to expand...

I think it is too late for that ... I was looking for a clip of Jack Benny to say "I know, I know!", in response to your comment ... but only found the following, and to some degree, Jack could be the MCX CEO and Peck could be a merchant ... but a funny clip just the same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9Xu-49sR-s
 
Why not allow them all and let consumers decide what they wanna pay with..

Even if I had the currentC app installed and the store supported it, I would purposely use my credit card so they pay the 2.5% fee or whatever it is.
 
MacRumors said:
On the subject of QR codes, Davidson says that CurrentC is "quite forgiving." Customers will not need to hold their phones "at a certain angle with certain light," and it's "designed to read a QR code pretty quickly." Davidson pointed towards Starbucks as a QR code success story, and said Starbucks is an "inspiration."
Click to expand...

If Starbucks is any indication, it's far from forgiving as I have to try many different angles and positions for it to register. Nevertheless, using the Starbucks app isn't too bad if done from the Passbook but it's quite annoying having to open the app, click on the card and turn it over to reveal card number at locations (such as on university campus) that do not have the QR code reader.
 
bluemellophone said:
MXC is fundamentally flawed because it is built around ACH, which is the whole pitch because it frees merchants from credit card fees. MXC assumes absolutely no liability (great for MXC, terrible for consumers) in the event of a breach. It sounds good to investors, but it is the single important issue as to why MXC is going to crash and burn, and, ultimately, no amount of merchant enrollment volume will save MXC from this reality.

With all due respect, Mr. Davidson, if even the NSA cannot protect against unauthorized data proliferation, it is pathological to assume that MXC has a better security apparatus. Credit card companies and banks have a - very real and immediate - financial interest in protecting against unauthorized access to their systems, yet they still deal with thousands of cases of fraud daily. The reason the credit card companies charge 2-3% is to partially provide the merchant and customers protection from fraud. But MXC has deemed this fee unnecessary and you. have. made. the. wrong. choice.

It isn't about speed of payment, it isn't about the usage of QR codes, it isn't about the participation of big merchants, it isn't about easier loyalty programs or coupons, it isn't about MXC's unfortunate hacking event, it isn't (really) even about saving data in the cloud (my butt)... it is about the core usage of ACH and we both know that isn't something MXC can fix without abandoning the entire product. No amount of marketing or incentives or perks will dissuade me otherwise.
Click to expand...

+1

ACH has some regulation, but it basically gives direct access to your bank account. Imagine PayPal, but without PayPal between you and the merchant. I have worked at a bank, and I wouldn't be surprised if they blocked MXC because of the large possibility of fraud.

Also, MXC has missed the point, which I think that Apple hit perfectly. In order for people to adopt this, it has to be easier than pulling out a credit card or cash. I feel that the :apple:Pay system is easy and secure enough for me to be comfortable with using it.
 
Last edited:
So now we know they've lied about several things.

#1. Security
#2. Exclusivity

This is not looking good. My goal isn't to save a nickel if it means I'm helping billionaires and millionaires get another nickel.
 
Davidson pointed out that the average American household is signed up for 18 loyalty programs but only uses a handful
Click to expand...

We're signed up for 18 loyalty programs because stores offered $20 off something that one time. Just because we're signed up doesn't mean we want them. Only retailers want them.

Davidson read that stat and came to precisely the wrong conclusion. He's either an idiot or a liar.
 
Radio said:
The CEO needs to keep his mouth shut

There are great intentions with their program but they have terrible PR.

Guys don't forget credit cards are evil
Click to expand...
Actually, that is not true. It depends on how you use credit cards that makes them evil or not evil. It's a very useful tool when used properly.
 
nnlxxiv said:
Always will be. MCX, :apple:pay, google pay etc. Please..
Cash is king no matter what. And nobody cares where one will shop or not!
:cool:
Click to expand...

I use about $10 in cash a week. 90+% of my purchases are debit card. Can't stand carrying cash.
 
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