Apple on Monday issued a statement touching on recent events that saw Apple Pay embargoed by MCX members Rite Aid and CVS, saying the mobile payment rollout has been largely successful and continues to gather steam as additional retailers pledge support.
In response to the Apple Pay prohibition, the company told Business Insider that Apple has received an 'overwhelmingly positive' response from both customers and merchants using Apple Pay, noting many retailers are already seeing the benefits of its touch-less payment solution.
The feedback we are getting from customers and retailers about Apple Pay is overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic. We are working to get as many merchants as possible to support this convenient, secure and private payment option for consumers. Many retailers have already seen the benefits and are delighting their customers at over 220,000 locations.
Over the weekend, drug store chains Rite Aid and CVS began blocking NFC transactions in preparation of its own brand of mobile payments known as CurrentC. The system is being developed for the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), a consortium of big-name retailers of which both Rite Aid and CVS are members. MCX is spearheaded by industry giants Walmart, 7-11 and Best Buy, among many others.
Compared to Apple Pay, however, CurrentC appears to be less secure and harder to use. The system requires customers to download a special app, which will generate a QR code cashiers scan on checkout. Apple Pay, on the other hand, features automatic terminal recognition, secure Touch ID fingerprint integration and tokenized payment handling.
Entities 0 Name: CVS Count: 3 1 Name: Apple Count: 2 2 Name: NFC Count: 1 3 Name: Business Insider Count: 1 4 Name: Walmart Count: 1 5 Name: Merchant Customer Exchange Count: 1 6 Name: MCX Count: 1 7 Name: Best Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/ZUAfVQ Title: CVS and Rite Aid Take a Bite Out of Apple Pay By Disabling it in Their Stores Description: Having fun using Apple Pay? That's great, just don't go to CVS or Rite Aid looking to use it. Over the weekend, both retailers disabled Apple Pay from working with compatible devices in their locations, even though the service was up and running for most of last week.
