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Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

johnszumski.com

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Re: Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

#11

Post by wahsd »

"...retail customer's money is on the line in the event of fraud..." is a good point that may just slide by. The fact that corporations have significantly moved to evading any kind of responsibility through various means from regulatory capture to force arbitration and market monopoly; it strikes me that the factor of risk to the retail consumer aspect will play a huge role. It is a huge competitive disadvantage, to both not develop something well and with vigilance towards security like Apple Pay is, while also then setting in place a framework for conveying to customers that "if there is fraud because of our poorly designed and developed system, we are going to duck and weave like champions".

Do you want to keep away customers, i.e., revenue, because that's how you keep away customers.

Re: Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

#12

Post by untog »

jimkri wrote: post #10

I really don't understand what the companies involved with MCX are thinking. They build an app that is going in the opposite direction of where the market is heading and limit the amount of payments they accept. I was in line at 7-11 at my university, where an girl was trying to use the currentc app. She was 2 people ahead of me, when I went up to pay she was still trying to pay with the app. At first her screen was…

A clue to what the companies are thinking from the article:

"Its payments are also routed from the retailer to the ACH system instead of the credit card system, which saves retailers from having to pay interchange fees (typically around 2% of the transaction amount)"

Re: Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

#13

Post by coleca »

prplhaz4 wrote: post #3

I believe CurrentC's (Paydiant's) QR code tokenization works the same as you've described Apple Pay tokenization - the merchant POS does not see any payment info other than a one-time-use token. This was another decent teardown of Paydiant's Subway app - but it looks like someone high up has had some of the code redacted :) http://randywestergren.com/reverse-engineering-the-subway-an... Functionally, it looks like Cu…

Loyalty integration is already being integrated into ApplePay. Walgreens went live with it today. Kohls also announced support for their house-brand credit / loyalty card.

The retailers are going to find that their "loyal" customers are much more loyal to their iPhones and Android phones then they are to the retailer's brand.

Consumers like the loyalty programs because they are a benefit to them (lower prices without clipping coupons and points programs such as .10 off a gallon of gas for every $100 purchased in store). The consumer isn't interested in helping the retailer build a database about their habits for "targeted marketing". Most people if left to think about it, find the programs creepy and would actively use any alternative if it was just as convenient as having the little card on their keychain.

That's not even to mention the ridiculous amount of barriers CurrentC will have asking for people's bank accounts from the same retailers (Target, Home Depot, etc.) that lost their credit card information. At least with the credit cards the consumer is protected. Not so much with their checking accounts.

Re: Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

#14

Post by MBCook »

ascagnel_ wrote: post #7
prplhaz4 wrote: post #3

I believe CurrentC's (Paydiant's) QR code tokenization works the same as you've described Apple Pay tokenization - the merchant POS does not see any payment info other than a one-time-use token. This was another decent teardown of Paydiant's Subway app - but it looks like someone high up has had some of the code redacted :) http://randywestergren.com/reverse-engineering-the-subway-an... Functionally, it looks like Cu…

As far as loyalty integration, there is some of that in Apple Pay -- it supports my local supermarket and drug store (Wegman's and Walgreen's, respectively).

That's new with iOS 9, it wasn't possible when Apple Pay launched.

I wasn't aware anyone was using it yet. That's neat.

Re: Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

#15

Post by jimkri »

untog wrote: post #12
jimkri wrote: post #10

I really don't understand what the companies involved with MCX are thinking. They build an app that is going in the opposite direction of where the market is heading and limit the amount of payments they accept. I was in line at 7-11 at my university, where an girl was trying to use the currentc app. She was 2 people ahead of me, when I went up to pay she was still trying to pay with the app. At first her screen was…

A clue to what the companies are thinking from the article: "Its payments are also routed from the retailer to the ACH system instead of the credit card system, which saves retailers from having to pay interchange fees (typically around 2% of the transaction amount)"

Yea I realized that when I was thinking about it. Which is a financial smart reason, but in the end it limits them.

If I only have my phone which I have android pay on and I need to get something from a drug store, I would go to CVS but they don't accept NFC. So I will have to go to Walgreen's instead which is usually near a CVS. So I don't get why they don't offer NFC, because keeping 98% of the transaction amount is better than 0.

Re: Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

#16

Post by untog »

jimkri wrote: post #15
untog wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A clue to what the companies are thinking from the article: "Its payments are also routed from the retailer to the ACH system instead of the credit card system, which saves retailers from having to pay interchange fees (typically around 2% of the transaction amount)"

Yea I realized that when I was thinking about it. Which is a financial smart reason, but in the end it limits them. If I only have my phone which I have android pay on and I need to get something from a drug store, I would go to CVS but they don't accept NFC. So I will have to go to Walgreen's instead which is usually near a CVS. So I don't get why they don't offer NFC, because keeping 98% of the transaction amount i…

Because what you're saying won't happen in a lot of situations. Drugs stores are interchangeable, but Target and Walmart are much less so, particularly out of urban centres.

Re: Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

#17

Post by ISL »

jimkri wrote: post #15
untog wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A clue to what the companies are thinking from the article: "Its payments are also routed from the retailer to the ACH system instead of the credit card system, which saves retailers from having to pay interchange fees (typically around 2% of the transaction amount)"

Yea I realized that when I was thinking about it. Which is a financial smart reason, but in the end it limits them. If I only have my phone which I have android pay on and I need to get something from a drug store, I would go to CVS but they don't accept NFC. So I will have to go to Walgreen's instead which is usually near a CVS. So I don't get why they don't offer NFC, because keeping 98% of the transaction amount i…

If your margin is only a few percent, 2% is a big deal.

What matters to a retailer isn't the revenue, it's the difference between costs and revenue.

Re: Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

#18

Post by Veratyr »

In Australia retailers have supported NFC in the form of Visa's payWave and Mastercard's PayPass for years now and I've got to say, it's fantastic compared to the experience in the US.

Walk into a supermarket/retailer/cinema/restaurant in Melbourne and payment is as simple as waving your card at the terminal. If the purchase is less than ~$100 you don't need to enter a PIN and don't need to sign anything (we outlawed signatures for domestic payments mid last year). It's just done. Visa/Mastercard/banks generally cover any fraudulent purchases using the system so you don't need to worry too much about fraud.

In addition to this, since the US tech companies generally don't appear to have cared about the rest of the world until now, our banks have provided us with contactless payment apps for our phones and unlike the numerous standards being developed in the US, the banks' apps work with the existing payWave/PayPass systems that are already supported.

The reason I'm bringing this up is to show just how behind the US is when it comes to payments. I'm currently living in the Bay Area and the only places I've been able to successfully complete a purchase using a contactless payment method are Office Depot and Whole Foods. Most fast food places don't accept it, most retailers don't accept it, most businesses in general don't accept it. In Melbourne at least nearly everywhere accepts it, from coffee shops to supermarkets to tech retailers.

Even the US's move to EMV is backwards. The country has the second highest credit card fraud rate in the world yet when moving to a "more secure" system, signatures are still being retained as "authentication" or "authorization" despite being literally attached to the back of the card.

The US is fantastic when it comes to technology but when it comes to banking and payments it's incredibly dated and behind.

Re: Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

#19

Post by toomuchtodo »

ISL wrote: post #17
jimkri wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea I realized that when I was thinking about it. Which is a financial smart reason, but in the end it limits them. If I only have my phone which I have android pay on and I need to get something from a drug store, I would go to CVS but they don't accept NFC. So I will have to go to Walgreen's instead which is usually near a CVS. So I don't get why they don't offer NFC, because keeping 98% of the transaction amount i…

If your margin is only a few percent, 2% is a big deal. What matters to a retailer isn't the revenue, it's the difference between costs and revenue.

Walmart is also smart about this. They algorithmically determine how many cashiers to have at certain times of the day, under the assumption that even though some people may give up and leave instead of waiting in line, its still more profitable for that to occur than to staff more cashiers for everyone to complete their purchases in a timely manner.

In the real world, its about profits, not volume.

Re: Hands on with Apple Pay Competitor CurrentC

#20

Post by jimkri »

untog wrote: post #16
jimkri wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea I realized that when I was thinking about it. Which is a financial smart reason, but in the end it limits them. If I only have my phone which I have android pay on and I need to get something from a drug store, I would go to CVS but they don't accept NFC. So I will have to go to Walgreen's instead which is usually near a CVS. So I don't get why they don't offer NFC, because keeping 98% of the transaction amount i…

Because what you're saying won't happen in a lot of situations. Drugs stores are interchangeable, but Target and Walmart are much less so, particularly out of urban centres.

Yea that is true, I totally forgot about towns where Walmart is the only store.
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