Apple Pay Already Highly Successful Despite MCX Merchants Ban

News
By Lucian Armasu
published

According to Tim Cook, who spoke at the WDJ.D conference, Apple Pay is already more successful than all of the other "contactless" payment services combined after only a week. To put that in numbers, Apple's CEO said that Apple Pay processed more than 1 million credit/debit card transactions in just three days.

It seems Apple Pay is already highly successful, despite the fact that some major retailers in the US have refused to use it. CVS and Rite Aid have even instructed stores to disable NFC in their registers so people can't perform Apple Pay transactions anymore. This has the side effect that Google Wallet or any other sort of NFC-based payments system also won't work anymore. Walmart has also refused to accept Apple Pay.

The main reason these companies are opposing Apple Pay is because they are all part of the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) consortium, which is working on its own mobile wallet solution called CurrentC that is currently available for Android and iOS as an invite-only beta.

CurrentC does have one positive thing going for it: removing the credit card middle man by connecting the mobile wallet directly to your bank account. This means it removes the credit card fees as well.

However, CurrentC also comes with some significant downsides. For example, not only does it collect all payment data (unlike Apple Pay, which keeps payments completely private through tokenization), but it also seems to collect health data and your location. It can also open you to advertising from third parties if you opt-in. If someone else is able to get access to your phone, its Terms of Service make the phone's owner liable for fraud.

Another problem with CurrentC is on the user experience side. Apple Pay is as simple as it gets; the user only has to select a card and tap the Touch ID button to pay. With CurrentC, the user has to scan the QR code of every product, and then show them to the cashier. That alone makes CurrentC completely impractical.

Seeing how successful Apple Pay already is, and how many loyal fans Apple has for its products, it seems unlikely that these merchants will win. It also helps that Apple Pay is the superior product in almost every way, from ease of use to privacy. The one exception is slightly higher transaction fees, which is probably not big enough of a downside for most Apple users anyway.

Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers software news and the issues surrounding privacy and security.
20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Barantos1
    how much they pay you for this article?
    Reply
  • fyend
    Cool advertarticle bros. Dat Apple $$$ tastes so sweet.
    Reply
  • Ryan Muller
    You just know that hackers are hard at work on this. I give it another month before they are hacked and data stolen.
    Reply
  • Jim_L9
    Looks like a way for hackers to easily gain access to POS systems.
    Reply
  • Miharu
    A basic thing.
    How can you call something a success when this cannot be a failure?
    Reply
  • aslucher
    Love it. Apple makes headlines and people think they are just paying for it. Even if they are, hello it indirectly helps Google Wallet. And to the hacking comments, NFC has been on the market for how long and Apple adds security, an open protocol the rarity in that alone.... And yet people still claim hack! Cool, my debit cards an be hacked in a second with the magnetic tape used, some thrill there.
    Reply
  • f-14
    apple pay has already been hacked, it's been found that apple pay has not been downloaded more than a hundred thousands times which means every download would have to be conducting over 10 transactions..furthermore the payments are all being routed to banks in ukraine and russia. the credit card companies are keeping a very close eye on this but the banks involved are trying to keep this hush hush.

    thieves are already using scam tricks of photographs of other users phone receipt screen shots which they display on their own phones to store personnel to walk off with lots of items. further proof their is no substitute for store receipts.
    Reply
  • akula2
    Good news, I'm quite happy with this development.

    Now, MCX merchants like Walmart et al should stop whining and complaining about it.
    Reply
  • maddad
    Where is your proof that Apple pay has been hacked!! Frankly I think you are outright lying to everyone here. You quote absolutely no source to qualify your claim. So proved to me you sir are not just a liar!!! And for the Apple haters commenting; I will bet that within 6 months this feature will be standard on every new Android phone sold. When that happens it will suddenly be such a great idea to use your phone to pay for stuff instead of pulling out the plastic. I don't own a single Apple product and never have, nothing to do with the quality or services they offer, just too expensive for my tastes! But for people to comment with lies and deception when they know they have no clue what they are talking about is just silly.
    Reply
  • wiad
    I don't understand all the hate towards Apple. Every time Apple releases a new product or feature people are always screaming about how Apple stole it or their product sucks. There is nothing horrible about Apple pay. If it is successful, great! That means more choices for the consumer. If not, oh well.
    Reply