This has been a long awaited phase of the overall strategy from the Merchant Customer Exchange.
The original announcement that the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) would be releasing a mobile payments system was made quite a while ago, and now the unveiling of this network has finally occurred.
This new feature of the joint venture of some of the largest retailers in the United States should be ready next year.
The MCX announced that its commercial retail launch of this mobile payments service will occur in 2015. The m-commerce venture, as a whole, was initially created in 2012. It includes Walmart, Target, and 7-Eleven, and was created to make it possible for consumers to be able to shop over their smartphones and to use those mobile devices as an alternative to credit cards and debit cards when making a purchase in store.
This mobile payments venture has also included a number of tech partnerships, including Paydient, Gemalto, and FIS.
Together, they have now unveiled the CurrentC network. This will give consumers the ability to use their smartphones to pay for purchases at over 110,000 different American merchant locations across the country, through the use of their smartphones instead of plastic cards. The service will try out a few private pilots, which have already been started (but that will be increased throughout the remainder of this year) in advance of the regional and then the national rollouts that will occur at various times in 2015.
The CurrentC mobile apps for Android and iOS are free and are being readied for download. That said, participating merchants are capable of integrating this tech into their own proprietary applications if that is their choice.
The mobile payments wallet service gives smartphone users the ability to link their existing accounts to their devices, but they will also be able to use gift cards as well as branded credit and debit cards with the app. Then, when they reach the checkout counter while in store, they will be able to simply scan barcodes using their smartphones in order to verify and complete the transaction and purchase the items they want.
New partnership aims to accelerate the development of mobile commerce platform
MCX, a growing mobile commerce firm, has announced that it has partnered with Paydiant, a provider of mobile payments solutions. MCX has been working to develop and launch its own mobile payments platform since 2012. This platform was expected to launch in late 2013, but MCX opted to push back the launch for several reasons. In partnering with Paydiant, MCX believes that its platform can be made better and more capable of handling the needs of consumers and businesses.
MCX to make use of Paydiant technology and services
The MCX platform is to make use of Paydiant’s cloud-based solution in order to make its mobile commerce features more robust. Using a cloud-based platform is also expected to help provide a higher degree of security to the platform, alleviating some of the concerns that consumers have in terms of mobile commerce. The mobile commerce scene has become quite attractive to hackers because many payments platforms lack the security features needed to keep financial information safe from exploitation. Lackluster security has been a major detractor for those that have been somewhat interested in mobile commerce.
Bar codes may help make platform more inclusive
The platform that MCX is developing is expected to make use of bar codes as a way to authenticate mobile payments. QR codes have been growing more common in the mobile commerce field for this purpose. The codes can be easily produced and scanned, making mobile payments somewhat more convenient. Many mobile commerce platforms make extensive use of NFC technology. There is currently a lack of NFC-enabled mobile devices available to consumers, which limits the inclusivity of many platforms.
Merchants are becoming more invested in mobile commerce
Merchants will also be able to make use of the platform from MCX. The retail sector has been growing more conscious of mobile consumers in recent years as many people begin to use their mobile devices to shop in stores. By embracing mobile commerce, these merchants may be able to remain relevant with consumers that are beginning to grow more dependent on their smartphones and tablets.
