Apple Pay was to replace the consumer's wallet of credit cards with its mobile system. But this mobile system has hit a roadblock. CVS and Rite Aid have removed Apple Pay from their stores.
Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) has been developing CurrenC since 2011. CurrenC is still in test mobile payment platform. CurrenC does not use an NFC chip unlike Apple Pay. It generates a QR code that is displayed on the merchant's check out terminal. CurrenC asks shoppers to confirm a purchase with their smartphones. Both the sales associate and customer scan a QR code to confirm a transaction.
CurrenC asks that shoppers link their checking, debit or gift value accounts to the app instead of credit cards. This will help retailers avoid paying the 2 or 3 percentages charged for transaction fees by Visa and Mastercard. In an interview with Bloomberg reporter Tim Higgins and Zeke Faux, Anindya Ghose, a Marketing and Information Technology Professor at New York University, “This act by CVS and Rite Aid heralds the advent of the imminent battle in the mobile pay system." Apple Pay is partnered with major credit card companies and banks. This allows Apple to collect fees from the card issuers.
The advantage of CurrenC is it works with the existing check out terminals. Apple Pay requires that all retailers buy new equipment in order to communicate with the NFC chip. Retailers would have to upgrade their credit and debit card system in order to use Apple Pay. The upgrade will cost retailers $500 to $1000 dollars per checkout terminal. Apple Pay uses short wave signals in order to make purchases. There are other stores that are not using Apple Pay such as Wal-mart, Lowe's, Target, and Best Buy.