Having competition in the marketplace is a good thing as it forces companies to innovate and to offer their customers the best product/service possible. However with MCX’s CurrentC, it seems that many took issue to the fact that the group decided to block competing mobile payment services such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet from their partners’ stores.
Well the semi-good news is that depending on the contract that the retailer has with MCX, it seems that the exclusivity period of using CurrentC might not be as long as you might think. Previously it was presumed that CurrentC would be the sole method of mobile payments offered at participating outlets, but as it turns out, it seems to be a timed exclusive.
This is according to the COO of MCX, Scott Rankin who had recently spoken to USA Today. According to Rankin, the exclusivity that MCX has with retailers will last for months, as opposed to years as previously thought. This means that companies such as CVS and Rite Aid, who have publicly announced they will not support Apple Pay, could end up offering support to Apple Pay and Google Wallet and other services in the future.
Rankin also reassured the public that using CurrentC will not require users to submit their driver’s license or Social Security numbers, which at the moment they do for the pilot program. CurrentC will also allow users to link their bank accounts directly to the service, along with the option of linking either credit or debit cards, versus other services which only allows credit/debit cards to be used.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Pay, Currentc and Google Wallet.