There were lots of different currencies in the US before 1863 when Abe Lincoln signed the National Banking Act establishing the federal dollar as the sole currency of the US. And we may be in for a tech battle that resembles those times. Rite Aid and CVS said this week that they wouldn’t support Apple Pay–Apple’s big grab for the transaction market. Turns out the reason is a thing called CurrentC, a competing payments app created by the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). Rite Aid and CVS are MCX members.
It’ll be interesting to see who’s more powerful (and passionate), MCX or the consumers who want to use Apple. MCX makes no concessions in a recent blog post, saying its retailers can either stay loyal or leave the MCX nest. But they can’t have Apple and stay. Customers who love Apple want to use Apple Pay wherever they choose to shop, just like people in various states used to want to use their state currency–before 1863. Google, Microsoft and lots of others offer pay options too.