Two articles make the case that MCX merchants are contractually forbidden from accepting payment schemes (such as Apple Pay) that compete with CurrentC.
Apple Pay
Tim Cook and Alibaba’s Jack Ma talk Apple Pay at WSJDLive conference
Yesterday’s opening day of the Wall Street Journal’s WSJDLive conference featured separate interviews of Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Apple Pay was a small, but potentially important, part of a large conversation.
Walmart: Here’s why we don’t support Apple Pay
Business Insider asked a Walmart PR representative why Walmart does not support Apple Pay.
On the brewing battle between Apple Pay and CurrentC
There’s a major battle brewing in the payments industry. On one side, Apple Pay sits on top of the existing credit card model, adding a layer of anonymizing security and ease of use.
On the other side is CurrentC, the brainchild of a consortium called the Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX. CurrentC seeks to eliminate the credit card companies, and their fees, from the system. CurrentC is an alternative to credit cards, not an add-on. Here are the big issues.
Re/code team takes Apple Pay on a test drive
[VIDEO] Re/code put together a review team of four people, two on the east coast, two on the west coast, to put Apple Pay through its paces.
Our overall conclusion: Apple Pay worked smoothly and quickly in all but a very few instances. But the number of physical and online stores that accept it at launch is still very small. Plus, some common things slow it down, like the need for signatures and debit-card PINs in some stores, its lack of support for loyalty cards, and cashier confusion. So it’s far from a complete replacement for your wallet and credit card, at least not yet.
This simplistic conclusion is only skin deep. The real value of the review is watching Apple Pay at work, with a separate video for each team member. To get you started, here’s Katie Boehret from Washington, D.C.
MasterCard adds a second Apple Pay Priceless Surprises ad
MasterCard expanded its Priceless Surprises advertising series with two news ads.
Apple Pay and NFC spoofing
Why NFC spoofing might work with other wallet mechanisms, but not with Apple Pay.
Baseball, hot dogs, and Apple Pay
Major League Baseball has announced that both Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and AT&T Park in San Francisco will be accepting Apple Pay, starting with tonight’s game one in Kansas City. And that means less time waiting in line for everyone.
The real value of Apple’s new iPads
Charles Arthur, writing for The Guardian, makes the case that Apple’s new iPad release is much more than a speed bump release. Rather, the addition of Touch ID to the iPad line is a huge milestone marker and a critical element in Apple’s Apple Pay rollout and pursuit of acceptance/adoption in the business sector.
On today’s release of Apple Pay
At last week’s event, Apple announced that iOS 8.1 would be released today. The iOS 8.1 feature with the biggest potential impact is, no doubt, Apple Pay.
This is how McDonald’s will take Apple Pay at the drive through
Apple Pay is changing the drive-through payment game. Now, when you roll up to the drive through, the cashier will hand you the portable NFC reader, you’ll tap your phone or Apple Watch, hear the confirmation beep, then hand it back. No credit card, no signing, no pin code.
Bill Gates on Apple Pay
Bill Gates, in last weeks Bloomberg interview:
“Apple Pay is a great example of how a cell phone that identifies its user in a pretty strong way lets you make a transaction that should be very, very inexpensive,” he said.
He explained: “So the fact that in any application I can buy something, that’s fantastic. The fact I don’t need a physical card anymore, I just do that transaction and you’re going to be quite sure about who it is on the other end, that is a real contribution.”
How the world sees Apple Pay
Cincinnati Enquirer:
How it works: Customers with the new iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch will be able to pay at registers with a wave of their devices. Customers buy virtual encrypted “tokens” from Apple to be stored on their phones – so in the event they’re lost or stolen, no credit card info is on the device. More details will be released this month by Apple.
I still struggle to get my head around exactly how Apple Pay works, but I do know that customers won’t be buying “virtual encrypted tokens” from Apple.
Understanding how Apple Pay works
Yoni Heisler does an excellent job of demystifying Apple Pay. Here’s my take on how all this works. Now with corrections.
Ebay to spin off PayPal, adopting strategy backed by Icahn
New York Times:
EBay said on Tuesday that it would spin off its PayPal payments unit into a separate publicly traded company, taking a step the activist hedge fund magnate Carl C. Icahn first demanded nine months ago.