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MCX CEO out a day after Best Buy announces Apple Pay integration

MCX, the merchant consortium behind the Apple Pay competitor known as CurrentC, has announced today that CEO Dekkers Davidson is being replaced by Brian Mooney. MCX has given Mooney the title of interim CEO, which makes it unclear as to whether the consortium is actively looking for another CEO to replace Dekkers Davidson or if Mooney is the permanent choice.

When Apple Pay launched, CurrentC and MCX received a flood of negative publicity. CurrentC’s exclusivity policy at the time prompted retailers such as CVS and Rite Aid to disable NFC terminals and therefore block Apple Pay. At the time, it was unclear how long that exclusivity deal was for, but it was later revealed that the agreement was for “months, not years.”

Recently, several CurrentC retailers have launched support for Apple Pay, signaling the end of the exclusivity agreement. During Apple’s earnings call yesterday, Tim Cook revealed that Best Buy would gain Apple Pay support in retail stores later this year and in-app immediately. Acme and Home Depot have also both revealed Apple Pay support after being initial CurrentC partners. It was also recently announced that Discover cardholders will have Apple Pay support soon as well.

Apple has touted that Apple Pay is supported at contactless payment terminals in over 700,000 locations. MCX’s mobile wallet app is still in a private beta test at this point. Exact reasoning for CEO Dekkers Davidson’s departure is unclear right now, although it most likely has something to do with the bad press and lack of adoption from more retailers.

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Comments

  1. standardpull - 9 years ago

    Interim CIO usually means they’re looking at their options. He may or not be an option.

    I’m going to guess that MCX is going to come up with a new plan – it looks like CurrentC, as previously reported, is too late to market to be financially viable.

    • crichton007 - 9 years ago

      One look at how they planned on making it work and it was obvious that early or late it wasn’t going to be a match for Apple Pay.

      • iSRS - 9 years ago

        Agree. Likely Walmart will be the only one to stay with it.

      • vpndev - 9 years ago

        Wal-Mart’s hate index against Visa/MasterCard/etc seems to be higher than any other company. The CEO certainly has expressed that sentiment.

        So, yes. Wal-Mart may be the lone holdout.

      • PMZanetti - 9 years ago

        Wal-Mart’s entire business model hinges on 2-3% of revenue. They can’t lose sight of an opportunity to reclaim that in the future.

        For real businesses, Apple Pay should be welcome.

  2. crichton007 - 9 years ago

    I don’t know if I heard any tiny violins playing but I’m pretty sure I heard a fat lady singing.

  3. iSRS - 9 years ago

    I’ve been using Apple Pay at my local Home Depot since launch.

    • vpndev - 9 years ago

      I have found that my Visa card (Chase) works but that MasterCard (Citi) does not. Both work fine with AP at other locations so it’s not an AP issue. In fact, the MC “failure” is weird. You present the phone to the terminal, it asks for TouchID and then confirms “Done” (w/ green check mark). About one second later it says “declined”. Of course, it’s the specific transaction that is declined – using the actual swipe card immediately for the payment works 100%. So there’s no problem with the card or account – just HD’s acceptance of AP.

      And they STILL have not enabled the chip-readers in their POS terminals. What’s with that?? You would think that, having been hacked already, they would be all over themselves with getting up-to-date. But no — it’s still swipe cards only, thank you.

      Turkeys.

      • absarokasheriff - 9 years ago

        vpndev. I have had the exact same experience. Mastercard transactions go through all of the proper steps but then get inexplicably declined. Visa goes through without a hitch. I have had other people report trouble with Visa at HD but I haven’t seen it.

        I also want to try American Express.

        My feeling is that PayPal is somehow involved in the MasterCard route because Home Depot takes PayPal and I believe MasterCard/PayPal transactions are handled by the same processor but Visa is different.

      • vpndev - 9 years ago

        absarokasheriff: Good point. I have an Amex and will try that next time I’m at HD.

        As far as the “card processor” is concerned – that is not the typical business model. You normally have only one. But HD is big (very big) and could certainly have different ones for different cards. I hadn’t thought of that – thanks for pointing it out.

  4. kevinsession - 9 years ago

    I’ll never shop at Walmart

  5. incredibilistic - 9 years ago

    If Walmart jumps on board MCX should just cut their losses and close the doors.

    I’d almost forgotten about Samsung Pay but with absolutely no marketing (as of today) I don’t see it doing very well against Apple Pay. Especially with the Apple Watch having the same feature.

    • absarokasheriff - 9 years ago

      incredibilistic. Walmart is one of the founding members of MCX. The testing of Current C has been done by Target to date but Walmart is the heart and soul of MCX. As others have stated, Walmart has a pathologic hatred of credit card fees.

  6. 89p13 - 9 years ago

    So long Dekkers Davidson – Maybe the RIAA or MPA needs a new CEO or Corporate Lackey?

    Just hope that most of the other stores in the CurrentC fold jump ship – though I have to agree with the previous posters – WalMart can just suck it! I’d rather NOT shop than ever enter a WallyWorld!

    • 89p13 - 9 years ago

      Did a little more early morning research:

      “MCX was created to capitalize on a tremendous opportunity for consumers, and I look forward to taking the company through the next exciting phase of bringing CurrentC™ to the market,” said Mooney. “MCX has a talented team in place backed by the determination and resources of many of the world’s largest and most successful merchants. Building on that foundation, we’re focused on making CurrentC™ the consumer preferred mobile payments app.”

      MCX spokeswoman Kristin Parran Faulder told CNET that the move had nothing to do with the Best Buy announcement.

      And that should be added to the 3 other great lies in the Western World.

      Like rats from a sinking ship . . . . Good-Bye CurrentC – We should just be thankful that it never launched!

      YMMV

  7. Tim (@tmcandr714) - 9 years ago

    I don’t believe Home Depot was eveer part of MCX. I also don’t believe they have officially announced their support for Apple Pay… but it does work on their current POS machines.

    • absarokasheriff - 9 years ago

      They were on MCX’s web site initially but then were quietly removed. I was shocked to see them gone but glad it was done. Hopefully, Home Depot can now announce official support using MCX Founding Member Best Buy as cover.

  8. mlanders1433 - 9 years ago

    I’ve had to go into Walmart a couple of times for specific items. It’s the Wild West in there. The typical laws don’t apply. Barely controlled carnage.

    Looking forward to using Apple Pay, my watch just arrived. I supposedly had June delivery. It arrived on the 27th

  9. mobileseeks - 9 years ago

    Hopefully CVS will be the next domino to fall in the exodus of MCX consortium. Then, if Safeway & Trader Joe’s were to join Apple Pay, I could stop carrying around my wallet most of the time.

  10. thenewdeal82 - 9 years ago

    I’m just waiting for Discover Card to join Aple Pay

  11. keepingeyesopen - 9 years ago

    CurrentC is destined to be a failure, or at best, a distant also-ran because its design is anti-consumer and has inherent security weaknesses. CurrentC’s design basically bypasses the credit card companies, accesses customers’ bank accounts directly and hoards customer data.

    From the merchant’s perspective, Apple Pay is simply a blind transaction; the merchant has no access to the consumers’ data or credit card/bank account information. Apple Pay eliminates one of the security weaknesses in our current system (merchant’s data storage) that has been demonstrated repeatedly.

    If CurrentC survives, I predict its place in the market will be analogous to the low-end check-cashing and car title loan businesses. Those who use CurrentC will be those who are unable to use more secure and consumer-friendly alternatives.

  12. fredyrosal - 9 years ago

    Who will replace Mr. Mooney, Richard Bucks?

  13. Jack Dale - 9 years ago

    They never understood the complexity of what they were trying to pull off. No pull from consumers.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

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