CurrentC exclusivity at MCX merchants to expire in 'months, not years'
An exclusivity agreement that has caused some merchants involved in the MCX consortium --?notably drug store chain CVS --?to abruptly pull support for NFC-based payment systems, including Apple Pay and Google Wallet, is set to expire in "months," according to a new report.
The consortium, which is made up of a number of major retailers including CVS, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart, instituted the exclusivity contract to provide "breathing room" for the development of the CurrentC ecosystem, MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson told Re/code. That contract is set to expire in "months, not years," Dekkers added.
Confirmation of the exclusivity agreement comes one week after the arrangement was first uncovered, following reports that CVS had disabled NFC terminals in its stores to prevent customers' use of Apple Pay.
It is unclear whether membership in the MCX consortium and mobile payment exclusivity are mutually inclusive, though that does not appear to be the case. While CVS appears to have agreed to that stipulation, midwest grocery chain Meijer --?another MCX partner --?continues to allow Apple Pay in its own stores.
Members who do not follow through with the exclusivity provisions are reportedly liable to be fined, though Davidson did deny that the consortium directed CVS to take action. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that the "skirmish" between competing mobile payment providers would ultimately be decided by consumers "over the long arc of time."
The consortium, which is made up of a number of major retailers including CVS, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart, instituted the exclusivity contract to provide "breathing room" for the development of the CurrentC ecosystem, MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson told Re/code. That contract is set to expire in "months, not years," Dekkers added.
Confirmation of the exclusivity agreement comes one week after the arrangement was first uncovered, following reports that CVS had disabled NFC terminals in its stores to prevent customers' use of Apple Pay.
It is unclear whether membership in the MCX consortium and mobile payment exclusivity are mutually inclusive, though that does not appear to be the case. While CVS appears to have agreed to that stipulation, midwest grocery chain Meijer --?another MCX partner --?continues to allow Apple Pay in its own stores.
Members who do not follow through with the exclusivity provisions are reportedly liable to be fined, though Davidson did deny that the consortium directed CVS to take action. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that the "skirmish" between competing mobile payment providers would ultimately be decided by consumers "over the long arc of time."
Comments
Oh I bet some lawyer is getting his ass kicked for that wording at CurrentC HQ. Not as bad as IBM forgetting to tie Microsoft up legally as exclusive but pretty sloppy. But maybe they are just beta version agreements only anyway.
Everything that has come out said it was a three year exclusivity deal. Also Meijer had NFC before joining MCX, and the agreement supposedly was for any new mobile payment solutions and grandfathered existing solutions. So Meijer can have both since it adopted NFC 5 years ago.
This whole thing needs to die off. Now. This half-cocked idea was completely blindsided by ApplePay, and they are struggling with the inevitable now: how to go down swinging.
Retailers had high hopes for this for one reason and one reason only: No Credit Card fees. They were promised the dreamy possibility of 2-3% revenue growth just from credit card fees alone becoming a thing of the past. Well, it was an empty promise that was never going to take off anyway...with or without ApplePay.
ApplePay did it right, by involving people's existing cards, and signing up the card issuers first.
And now every single on of these retailers that signed up for the empty promises of MCX are throwing angry darts at their MCX contract, as they miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to be an ApplePay supporter, during a time when this new and popular system is actually driving people to seek out merchants that support it, and shop there.
This completely unique in the retail game....and they are missing it, and I guarantee you they are unbelievably sore at missing it.
Oh I bet some lawyer is getting his ass kicked for that wording at CurrentC HQ. Not as bad as IBM forgetting to tie Microsoft up legally as exclusive but pretty sloppy. But maybe they are just beta version agreements only anyway.
Yeah it seems like they are changing their minds quite frequently on what is and what is not CurrentC lol
It's the no Credit card fee's, but it also allows them to spy on people's shopping habits even more so then they do now when you use a credit card. This is why when they get hacked, the hackers get all these numbers. it's because they use them to track you. CurrectC expands on this even more. Hell I hear their App grabs your health info that's on your iPhone! It's that bad! Using Apple Pay, you're 100% Anonymous. They can't track you by your credit card anymore. Your iPhone sends out a one time use token. Kind of worthless. All they get is your money. The only way anyone can track you is if you use a Rewards card like Amazon Chase MasterCard. Then Amazon knows what you're doing, but you're getting points and whatnot to use it. So it's a trade off. Other wise the only person that knows about your transactions is the bank that issued you your card.
With Google Wallet, they're still screwed on tracking you, except for Google as all transactions go though Google. You pay Google with the Credit card they have on file and then they pay for you. So Google is the Middle Man. That's to be expected being your personal Info is Google's business!!! The stores themselves can't track you as you're using a token. Few people used Google Wallet. Waste of time to block it. A Surge in Apple Pay users, Nope, can't have that. Don't want them to get hooked paying that way. Disable and wait for CurrentC. I don't know who thought that would work or was a good idea.
I do hope the transaction fee's get reduced using Apple Pay maybe even Google Wallet because there would be much less fraud. That's a savings for them, maybe pass those savings along. In the end, they have maybe a 1% transaction fee at most. Everyone wins that way. The merchant with a lower Transaction fee. The Customer with less fraud on their own cards to deal with, and the Bank who issued the credit card saving more and more money as Apple Pay and Google Wallet are used more and more. That savings means even with a lower transaction fee they're making the same money, maybe more then before. The only ones who really lose are places like Wal-mart, Target, Home Depot, etc, etc, all the large Major chains that normally track your Buying habits. All that Data would be no one. Except for those that get people to use a Reward Credit Card. Still far from the same thing and would only be a fraction of users. You'd need like a CurrectC Credit Card so all these businesses could track your Spending Habits when using Apple Pay. Then it would do them all good. Who would want that? That would cost money for them because no one would just use it and get nothing out of it.
Used Apple Pay at Whole Foods a couple times.
its the future. PERIOD.
I've gone out of my way a few times now to shop at Walgreens instead of RiteAid and CVS because of ApplePay. They are out of their minds if they don't think others are doing the same.
These retailers need to wake up and get ApplePay turned on for the holidays before they miss a huge opportunity. This is not a fad, and its not going away....like you said, its the future....but while this is new, this a big chance to compete.
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/04/law-firm-class-action-rite-aid-cvs/
I wondered if there might be anti-trust issues here. I guess I'm not the only person to wonder that.
You are the one imposing this clause in the contract on retailors to start with !
Just send a nemo to all your retailors and say "enable apple pay if you want, we will not enforce that clause in the contract ..."
Simple enough MCX ?
Retailers had high hopes for this for one reason and one reason only: No Credit Card fees. They were promised the dreamy possibility of 2-3% revenue growth just from credit card fees alone becoming a thing of the past. Well, it was an empty promise that was never going to take off anyway...with or without ApplePay.
Say MCX would catch on and the amount of cash flow to banks increased. Couldn't banks turn around and start adding fees to those transactions? Kinda reminds me of accounts that have lower monthy fees often have reduced transaction counts.
On the flip side, since CC companies will theoretically spend less on fraud due to Apple Pay, they could lower their fees. That would be a win for everyone.
However, if I do continue to shop in any of these places (questionable), I will never use a system like this. There is nothing in it for me except the possibility of getting my data stolen, and being targeted based on my purchases. It's a lose / lose for the consortium.
They can't track you by your credit card anymore. Your iPhone sends out a one time use token. Kind of worthless. All they get is your money. The only way anyone can track you is if you use a Rewards card like Amazon Chase MasterCard. Then Amazon knows what you're doing, but you're getting points and whatnot to use it. So it's a trade off. Other wise the only person that knows about your transactions is the bank that issued you your card.
Apple's Passbook App supports loyalty cards, so presumably you can allow your transactions (without your credit card info) to be tracked in general, in return for discounts. Apple Pay also supports debit cards, so I don't see any need for another scheme that charges your bank account directly.
If it's true there's no penalty for dropping out of the CurrentC consortium, then every member should just drop out. I'll bet the exclusivity clause gets deleted not in months but tomorrow.
An exclusivity agreement ... is set to expire in "months," according to a new report.
sure, in 36 months...
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/04/law-firm-class-action-rite-aid-cvs/
I wondered if there might be anti-trust issues here. I guess I'm not the only person to wonder that.
Can't see how that would have legs.
Plenty of places don't take Discover, Amex - is there still Diner's Club??? - checks, large bills, etc.
No one's being successfully sued over any of that "exclusivity".
An exclusivity agreement ... is set to expire in "months," according to a new report.
sure, in 36 months...
But that would then also be "years"...so, 23 months anyone?
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that the "skirmish" between competing mobile payment providers would ultimately be decided by consumers "over the long arc of time."
Speaking of time, Apple Pay usage should spike after Apple Watch is released.
It will enable Apple Pay with iPhone 5, 5C, and 5S.
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/04/law-firm-class-action-rite-aid-cvs/
I wondered if there might be anti-trust issues here. I guess I'm not the only person to wonder that.
Can't see how that would have legs.
Plenty of places don't take Discover, Amex - is there still Diner's Club??? - checks, large bills, etc.
No one's being successfully sued over any of that "exclusivity".
I believe the class-action suit isn't against the stores not accepting ApplePay as much as it's against MCX for banding together independent businesses in a type of cartel that outlaws other types of payment. Individual businesses can determine what types of payment other than cash they want to accept, but I don't believe a group of businesses can jointly discriminate against specific payment types. There is a big difference.