When Google Wallet was formally launched in 2011 it was almost immediately blocked by the major US mobile carriers. Verizon was the first and most vocal, citing security concerns. Yet the “real reason” for disallowing Google Wallet was the fact that all the major US carriers (except Sprint) were part of a competing payments initiative called ISIS (now renamed Softcard).
There’s a direct analogy with what’s happening to Apple Pay now. Over the weekend MacRumors reported that Rite-Aid and CVS pharmacies disabled the near-field-communications (NFC) capabilities of their point-of-sale systems (POS) to stop customers from using Apple Pay (or Google Wallet).
As with ISIS and the wireless carriers, a broad consortium of retailers is preparing a competing mobile payments system and they don’t want Apple Pay to kill it before it can get off the ground. That system, as you’re probably now aware, is called the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) and it has created an invitation-only app for both iOS …
There’s a direct analogy with what’s happening to Apple Pay now. Over the weekend MacRumors reported that Rite-Aid and CVS pharmacies disabled the near-field-communications (NFC) capabilities of their point-of-sale systems (POS) to stop customers from using Apple Pay (or Google Wallet).
As with ISIS and the wireless carriers, a broad consortium of retailers is preparing a competing mobile payments system and they don’t want Apple Pay to kill it before it can get off the ground. That system, as you’re probably now aware, is called the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) and it has created an invitation-only app for both iOS …