UPDATE: MCX has gone on the defensive, hosting a conference call with members of the press. The company claims they are a target of attacks for trying to “challenge the status-quo” and that CVS’s and Rite Aid’s decision to cease NFC payments was because those merchants were making choices they felt were best for the consumer.
What a difference a week makes. Last week at this time very few people had even heard of CurrentC, the QR passed payment system being launched by MCX. But since CurrentC forced its retail partners to shut off NFC payments over the weekend, the payment system has received nothing but negative press. CurrentC was designed by retailers to allow them to harvest customer information and avoid processing fees by not allowing the use of credit cards. This morning the New York Time wrote about MCX’s strong arm business practices including requiring merchants to pay $30,000 to view MCX’s presentation on CurrentC and requiring partners to utilize CurrentC exclusively for mobile payments. MCX later confirmed the exclusivity clause via a blog post and stated that the safest way to conduct mobile payments was not device to device but via the cloud. Those words have bitten MCX as their bad press seems to have culminated this afternoon with news that a third party has gained access to email addresses associated with CurrentC.
