Quoted for truth. Will there be incentives for customers to use CurrentC over something else? Gift cards and pre-paid credit cards are also an excellent way to avoid profiling. Will they stop accepting that too?
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MCX Confirms Retailer Exclusivity for CurrentC Mobile Payments, but No Fines for Leaving Consortium
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Quoted for truth. Will there be incentives for customers to use CurrentC over something else? Gift cards and pre-paid credit cards are also an excellent way to avoid profiling. Will they stop accepting that too?
Good luck getting people to stop using credit. I'm curious are these MCX merchants going to offer a different price if someone uses CurentC/debit card/cash vs credit card?
So how does MCX survive, once the investment money is burned someone has to pay. If its not per transaction it will be advertising or subscription. Basically whats the incentive to ensure the security of the cloud remains safe in the future when advertising or subscriptions slow down!
Like other have said, I see no point to this, why would I get my phone out, scan a barcode etc. Way easier to just swipe my card and move on....
I can just imagine at Walmart, you are in line, the Barcode is about to print - out of paper..... Nothing to scan. Have to wait minutes for someone to add a new roll of paper, reprint the barcode then scan (smudged, printer head dirty, damaged and not all pixels print - what a recipe for disaster, I can see signs hanging on many registers saying CASH only)..... Oops wrong barcode printed and you pay for someone elses goods!!!!! (Thats assuming they print the barcode for you to scan, not sure where else it comes from?)
Like other have said, I see no point to this, why would I get my phone out, scan a barcode etc. Way easier to just swipe my card and move on....
I can just imagine at Walmart, you are in line, the Barcode is about to print - out of paper..... Nothing to scan. Have to wait minutes for someone to add a new roll of paper, reprint the barcode then scan (smudged, printer head dirty, damaged and not all pixels print - what a recipe for disaster, I can see signs hanging on many registers saying CASH only)..... Oops wrong barcode printed and you pay for someone elses goods!!!!! (Thats assuming they print the barcode for you to scan, not sure where else it comes from?)
Oh. I think increased liquidity of payment should be incentive. Deliberately disabling a working system to stifle competition may have been calculated. Did anyone consider they may have deliberately allowed it to work temporarily in order to force changes in the MCX contract? That would have been sheer genius. First one to break gets the extra bonus points of "caring about the customer" as well.
No. Apple pay is only a tool to keep your credit card private from the merchant you are buying at. Charges are exactly the same as swiping your credit card.
So what I don't understand is why the retailers will accept your credit card if you swipe it, but they will refuse the same credit card if presented through Apple pay.... Weird...
I believe they're shutting down ApplePay because of its convenience. In their minds, they were going to come to the market with a great new feature that allowed customers to leave their wallets at home and be able to pay for all their goods with just their cell phone. Now since ApplePay and Google Wallet offer the same convenience, there's no reason for consumers to use their CurrentC system, especially since they receive the added benefits of credit card rewards.
I haven't missed a thing.
There are a few factors at play.
1. Prior to Apple Pay - NFC payments weren't that much of a "threat" - or rather - not very popular.
2. Since at least 2011- retailers have been trying to figure out a way to minimize their overhead and eliminate as many cc transaction fees as possible
3. They test market their solution and plan to roll out in 2015
4. Apple comes along with Apple Pay at the end of 2014 and now there is a flood of new iPhone users who are hot to try their newest gadget and start using it to pay
Given the timing and that retailers are trying to roll out a competing payment method, of course they are going to try and minimize the usage of an App that reduces the likelihood of adoption of their method. Their goal isn't to make CC transactions easier - it's to make mobile payments easier.
Do I agree with them turning off NFC at this point - no. I understand it. Some people here seem to not understand why they would do this. It seems obvious.
And again - ultimately - it's not about removing all CC transactions or NFC capabilities. In fact, it's also possible that CurrentC might eventually USE NFC. We don't know until it rolls out.
Timing is playing a big role here. Retailers are close (enough) to rolling out their own solution, they want it to be the mobile payment method of choice.
Not accepting cash is not illegal, and there is no requirement that the business is required to accept cash. Look it up.
Businesses can require credit cards only (like Apple did for the first gen iPhone), or hell, even chickens only, it is just bad business practice is all, but not illegal.
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I believe the QR Code will show up on the screen of the ..... credit card reader. Walmart uses the credit card reader for everything, from verifying your gift card amount, to showing you how much you have to pay, and all your items that are on your receipt. At the Site-to-Store counter, the card reader is even used as a doorbell of sorts, to call over an associate.
This all seemed somewhat reasonable, albeit dumb on the retailers part, until you get to the paragraph about privacy:
"...argues that the system's cloud-based storage of sensitive customer information offers more security than on-device storage that could be more easily compromised through hacking or theft."
That statement is a complete crock of happy horsecrap, if I've ever heard one.
Let's review the retailer's current security: Target, Home Depot for example. Then this system is suppose to circumvent credit cards, yet one of the payment options is credit card?
All BS.
"...argues that the system's cloud-based storage of sensitive customer information offers more security than on-device storage that could be more easily compromised through hacking or theft."
That statement is a complete crock of happy horsecrap, if I've ever heard one.
Let's review the retailer's current security: Target, Home Depot for example. Then this system is suppose to circumvent credit cards, yet one of the payment options is credit card?
All BS.
Right there's the key line. For about 4-5 days now, every one of these threads has filled in with an abundance of attacks against the non-Apple alternative. No surprise- that's almost a universal rule for all things related to Apple. Post after post about foolishly turning away money is right but implying that these huge retailers are dumb is wrong. There have a reason for trying to go another way and there it is.
Apple's solution piles on to a long-term leech arrangement that enriches the big banks. Everything we buy with credit cards and now Apple Pay dings the seller a few percentage points in transaction costs. Apparently Apple takes a very little slice of that and the banks take the rest. It's no small change. A retailer with an 8% profit who is dinged 2% (of revenues) in total when they take a credit card (or now Apple Pay), is redirecting 25% of their profit to these banks. Imagine if AT&T, Verizon, etc took 25% of Apple's profits in order to cover their part of making the iPhone business go. Would Apple be dumb for trying to find another way to do business to reduce or eliminate that 25% cut? Of course not, and "we" would be finding great fault with AT&T, Verizon, etc for taking such a big bite out of Apple's profits rather than marginalizing it as "a cost of doing business" and so on.
Apparently this CurrentC is an attempt to somewhat replicate a mobile payment option while (maybe) cutting out the leeches. For consumers, we would still get to buy things at the exact same price (so there's no higher cost burden for us) but the merchant would get to keep more of their profit rather than lose it to gigantic banks who have little-to-nothing to do with the work of driving each sale.
As a point of comparison, visit anTV thread. There is an abundance of gripes that
Too bad Apple Pay didn't take on the mobile payments business in a similar way. In other words, instead of partnering with the leeches (and thus offering yet another way to further enrich the big banks), what if Apple had chosen to implement Apple Pay as CurrentC appears to be trying to do (cut out those middlemen bankers)? Then, we could have the great, ease-of-use benefits of Apple's option while helping ALL businesses be more profitable than they can be "as is". Instead of having to pitch retailers on partnering with Apple Pay, all retailers could keep more of their profits on every sale by encouraging Apple Pay.
Are there things wrong with CurrentC concept? Of course. But the one thing that appears to be better is this goal of cutting out that transactional cost. It wouldn't take a lot for Apple to make Apple Pay also work with CurrentC. Then those businesses wanting to continue to send a couple percent of their profits to the big banks could stick with "as is" solution and those wanting to keep that profit could use CurrentC. For us consumers, Apple Pay would work the exact same way as a kind of UI layer atop whichever method is being used by a given retailer. Quicktime or Safari runs atop both OS X and Windows OSs. Those are very different systems behind the scenes but the part "we" use is largely the same. Apple Pay could work like that too with both platforms.
In other words, Apple almost shouldn't care about the CurrentC initiative. Just make Apple Pay work with that platform too and everybody (except the big banks) would be happy. Many of "us" are treating CurrentC like it's some kind of attack against Apple. It's not. It's just a bunch of companies mostly trying to cut a hefty albatross cost. Apple could help them do that with Apple Pay and the end result for us consumers would be transparent (we wouldn't even know if it was the "as is" or CurrentC platform underpinning any given transaction).
These businesses can do this even more easily if they wish, just start only accepting cash or checks, no credit cards. Problem solved, they don't even need to create a mobile payment system (that has serious flaws).
A Law?
Do we really/need want a federal government law on what is going to be good old fashioned free market competition?
If CVS doesn't want my Apple Pay, I'll go to Walgreens.
Let the best payment option win!
Do we really/need want a federal government law on what is going to be good old fashioned free market competition?
If CVS doesn't want my Apple Pay, I'll go to Walgreens.
Let the best payment option win!
I'd be happy to use the new CurrentC if they give me enough benefit. Credit cards give me 1% of cash back at least.
I just don't want curry a bunch of cards with barcodes. I have Duane Reade, Subway, Toys R Us, and oh I also have a Yankees Clubhouse Shop Card. They are so many plastic cards already.
Currentc or not. Less plastic cards are always welcome.
CurrentC will fail. It's just too complicated. I created a QB code for Dunkin Donuts for the sake of one less plastic card. It was a pain. I had to make an account, I had to register a new card, I had register for a loyalty program, the card I register was not processed well, I had to call customer service and listened classic music for 20 minutes, then I gave up, I sent email to the customer support several days ago but never get replied back to me.
I just don't want curry a bunch of cards with barcodes. I have Duane Reade, Subway, Toys R Us, and oh I also have a Yankees Clubhouse Shop Card. They are so many plastic cards already.
Currentc or not. Less plastic cards are always welcome.
CurrentC will fail. It's just too complicated. I created a QB code for Dunkin Donuts for the sake of one less plastic card. It was a pain. I had to make an account, I had to register a new card, I had register for a loyalty program, the card I register was not processed well, I had to call customer service and listened classic music for 20 minutes, then I gave up, I sent email to the customer support several days ago but never get replied back to me.
Sounds good, but were not talking about providing an abstraction layer over equivalent infrastructures.
They are NOT equivalent. The customer seems far more exposed with MCX.
I believe they wanted to offer the public these two options...
Old credit card swipe system:
Pros - Credit card rewards, security
Cons - Have to carry around credit cards
New CurrentC system:
Pros - No more carrying around cards
Cons - No credit card points, potential lack of security
ApplePay/Google Wallet which they are trying to shut down:
Pros- No more carrying around cards, credit card rewards, security
Cons - None
As a consumer, you may see a reason for picking CurrentC over the old credit card swiping system. However, it's hard to sell CurrentC to the consumer with ApplePay in the market since it's only real benefit is matched by said ApplePay.
"Works with any phone"
Regular NFC essentially works with any phone as well. Anyone savvy enough to wish the use of NFC with their phone will be using Android or iOS. Anyone not savvy enough to use these types of phones won't understand QR codes or be bothered to use them.
Regular NFC essentially works with any phone as well. Anyone savvy enough to wish the use of NFC with their phone will be using Android or iOS. Anyone not savvy enough to use these types of phones won't understand QR codes or be bothered to use them.
Apple should fight back by not allowing the CurrentC app through the AppStore. That way, CurrentC would only be available to those presumably on Android/Windows Phone.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I don't like the data mining part of CurrentC either. But don't fool yourself into thinking that since Apple Pay doesn't collect transactional data, your transactions are not collected by the credit card companies underpinning Apple Pay. They mine it. They sell it. Apple Pay is just a layer. Underneath it is big banks who are masters at making tons of money without having to make any tangible product. While Apple is doing a great job of spinning how THEY are not collecting data, the banks underneath Apple pay are also in the transaction. They know. They have the data. And they can mine it and sell it.
And sure, the retailers will price credit card transaction fees into their pricing. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't look for ways to reduce their costs. Apple works very hard to reduce their costs too. Do you really think the components in products Apple updated months or years ago cost as much now as they did when they were new? So Apple does the work to reduce such costs over time and enjoys the added profit by still selling Apple products at the same pricing. These retailers are trying to reduce transactional costs while still selling products at the same pricing. Same objective. And nothing particular wrong with either.
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Instead of fighting Apple Pay, there are so many smart ways they could use it to your advantage.
1. Apple Pay makes it easier than ever for people to have tons of credit cards, one for every single store, one of the reasons why people currently don't sign up for them.
2. Apple Pay could be programmed to have that store's card appear by default when you put your phone next to that store's NFC, making it the default method of payment there, even if you have a "main card" for everywhere else.
3. They could also provide financial incentives. Right now most credit cards by Chase Amex or Capital One give better benefits than anything those stores have to offer. How about a flat 10% discount on anything you buy at Target using a Target credit card through Apple Pay? How is their current 5% any better than the Quicksilver for example, which at least works everywhere.
Everyone wins, users (ease of use, discounts, convenience) and retailers (lower fees and customers profiling).
1. Apple Pay makes it easier than ever for people to have tons of credit cards, one for every single store, one of the reasons why people currently don't sign up for them.
2. Apple Pay could be programmed to have that store's card appear by default when you put your phone next to that store's NFC, making it the default method of payment there, even if you have a "main card" for everywhere else.
3. They could also provide financial incentives. Right now most credit cards by Chase Amex or Capital One give better benefits than anything those stores have to offer. How about a flat 10% discount on anything you buy at Target using a Target credit card through Apple Pay? How is their current 5% any better than the Quicksilver for example, which at least works everywhere.
Everyone wins, users (ease of use, discounts, convenience) and retailers (lower fees and customers profiling).
Right there's the key line. For about 4-5 days now, every one of these threads has filled in with an abundance of attacks against the non-Apple alternative. No surprise- that's almost a universal rule for all things related to Apple. Post after post about foolishly turning away money is right but implying that these huge retailers are dumb is wrong. There have a reason for trying to go another way and there it is.
Apple's solution piles on to a long-term leech arrangement that enriches the big banks. Everything we buy with credit cards and now Apple Pay dings the seller a few percentage points in transaction costs. Apparently Apple takes a very little slice of that and the banks take the rest. It's no small change. A retailer with an 8% profit who is dinged 2% (of revenues) in total when they take a credit card (or now Apple Pay), is redirecting 25% of their profit to these banks. Imagine if AT&T, Verizon, etc took 25% of Apple's profits in order to cover their part of making the iPhone business go. Would Apple be dumb for trying to find another way to do business to reduce or eliminate that 25% cut? Of course not, and "we" would be finding great fault with AT&T, Verizon, etc for taking such a big bite out of Apple's profits rather than marginalizing it as "a cost of doing business" and so on.
Apparently this CurrentC is an attempt to somewhat replicate a mobile payment option while (maybe) cutting out the leeches. For consumers, we would still get to buy things at the exact same price (so there's no higher cost burden for us) but the merchant would get to keep more of their profit rather than lose it to gigantic banks who have little-to-nothing to do with the work of driving each sale.
As a point of comparison, visit an
Too bad Apple Pay didn't take on the mobile payments business in a similar way. In other words, instead of partnering with the leeches (and thus offering yet another way to further enrich the big banks), what if Apple had chosen to implement Apple Pay as CurrentC appears to be trying to do (cut out those middlemen bankers)? Then, we could have the great, ease-of-use benefits of Apple's option while helping ALL businesses be more profitable than they can be "as is". Instead of having to pitch retailers on partnering with Apple Pay, all retailers could keep more of their profits on every sale by encouraging Apple Pay.
Are there things wrong with CurrentC concept? Of course. But the one thing that appears to be better is this goal of cutting out that transactional cost. It wouldn't take a lot for Apple to make Apple Pay also work with CurrentC. Then those businesses wanting to continue to send a couple percent of their profits to the big banks could stick with "as is" solution and those wanting to keep that profit could use CurrentC. For us consumers, Apple Pay would work the exact same way as a kind of UI layer atop whichever method is being used by a given retailer. Quicktime or Safari runs atop both OS X and Windows OSs. Those are very different systems behind the scenes but the part "we" use is largely the same. Apple Pay could work like that too with both platforms.
In other words, Apple almost shouldn't care about the CurrentC initiative. Just make Apple Pay work with that platform too and everybody (except the big banks) would be happy. Many of "us" are treating CurrentC like it's some kind of attack against Apple. It's not. It's just a bunch of companies mostly trying to cut a hefty albatross cost. Apple could help them do that with Apple Pay and the end result for us consumers would be transparent (we wouldn't even know if it was the "as is" or CurrentC platform underpinning any given transaction).
As a consumer, I'm glad Apple incorporates credit cards into ApplePay. I love the rewards system my credit cards provide me and if ApplePay didn't provide access to such a rewards system, I would absolutely consider sticking with old plastic credit cards over using ApplePay.
All you say is right my friend, but all MCX has to do is bring a superior product and let the consumers decide which payment method they prefer... If they have a superior solution to apple pay, then they will win...
It's not like Apple were the first company to come out with NFC payments, but they brought a superior product then existing one and they started getting traction... Let the best payment method win by natural consumer choice...
What they are currently doing is saying we will only accept credit cards if you all will swipe, but not through NFC.....
This seems totally something some retailers are pushing to avoid the cc fees. Well one way to avoid credit card fees is to not have any customers.
