Apple Pay has managed to establish itself as the leader of mobile payments in just a few months and the competition is starting to heat up as companies like Google and Samsung try desperately to steal market share from Apple. However, the big tech companies aren’t the only ones on the field, a platform by the name of CurrentC will be entering the fray soon and it has some powerful retail backers.
The mobile payments space is about to get more crowded: CurrentC, a platform backed by some of the country’s biggest retailers, will launch in the next few months and give Apple, Google and Samsung added competition. Few details are known about the service, but it is expected to merge payments and loyalty benefits and will give retailers additional insight into the spending habits of customers who are members. Less is known about the benefits it may offer consumers. A small -scale trial began last year and CurrentC is currently being tested in several undisclosed markets around the U.S. However, its use is restricted to employees of member retailers, which include Walmart, 7-Eleven, Dunkin Donuts, Sears, Best Buy, Exxon Mobil and Gap. Merchant Content Exchange (MCX), the operator of the service, plans to make it available to the public in mid 2015, but in a single market at first.