Mobile Payments - Apple Pay and CurrentC by MCX

Two articles popped up recently that are must-reads.

First is a fantastic and balanced article by the folks over at ArsTechnica on Apple Pay, its struggles and successes, and what else is happening in that space including CurrentC.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/04/like-all-mobile-wallets-before-it-apple-pay-struggles-with-retailers/

Here is a snippet from that piece:

A recent study published by market research company Phoenix Marketing International found that 47 percent of all Apple Pay users shopping in a participating store were not able to use Apple Pay to complete a transaction at least once.

The finding reflects one of the biggest stumbling blocks that Apple Pay and its competitors face in trying to get people to adopt mobile payments—the fact that no payment platform can control the experience a customer has when they walk into a brick-and-mortar store.

Next is a great little piece that thoughtfully examines the strengths and weaknesses of the approach we are seeing from MCX with its CurrentC app:

http://www.paymentssource.com/news/interchange/mcx-can-avoid-harm-from-its-crawl-to-market-3021001-1.html

Here is a snippet from that piece:

The Merchant Customer Exchange's mobile payment app is developing slower than expected, but the venture has advantages that should allow it to avoid harm from the delay.

MCX expects to launch an early-stage version of the CurrentC app in mid-2015, in a mid-sized market. That's well after initiatives from rivals such as Samsung and Apple, but MCX is still well-positioned for success if it makes the right moves and curries favor with banks.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant