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Mobile-Payment Battle Brews Between Apple, Wal-Mart

2 min read

A major battle could be brewing between giants of the retail and technology world over how mobile payments will take hold in America.

This week, Apple announced the release of the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus and the Apple Watch, but it also announced Apple Pay, a mobile-payment method that will allow customers to pay for goods — groceries, electronics, food, whatever — with your iPhone at a participating vendors. The program begins next month.

Apple already has some of the larger banks and retailers like McDonald’s and Macy’s in its corner. One retailer it doesn’t have? Wal-Mart.

According to an article from The Washington Post, the Bentonville-based retailer has said no to Apple Pay, and yes to the continued development of its own mobile-payment plan, CurrentC, which will work on any smartphone.

Wal-Mart isn’t the only one throwing support behind CurrentC. Target, 7-Eleven, Southwest Airlines, the Gap and Shell are some of the others to join in, according to The Post.

It seems the battle is all but certain. Michael Archer, a partner at Kurt Salmon Associates, a retail consultant, had this to say:

“There will be a dominant player to come out of CurrentC versus Apple. I’m not willing to handicap either one right now…you’ve got major players in CurrentC, you’ve got eight of the top banks and credit card issuers in Apple Pay,” Archer said. “The interest level in the space is always going to be challenged if there are competing players. The opportunity, and maybe a need, for convergence is there.”

Other than saying they had no plans to use Apple Pay, Wal-Mart officials refused to comment to The Washington Post. Apple reps didn’t comment at all about Wal-Mart’s stance. For more, check out The Washington Post’s complete story here.

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