Apple Pay Denied by Rite-Aid, CVS Posted by AVCU on 12:04 PM

MSN Money reports that Apple’s bid to replace the consumer wallet with its mobile payment system ran into a roadblock as CVS and Rite Aid disabled the technology in their combined 12,270 drugstores. CVS and Rite Aid are among 220,000 U.S. merchants that already have technology in place to read the short-range wireless signals that enable customers of Apple Pay or similar services to make a purchase by waving their smartphones. But, the drug retailers are part of a consortium developing a competing payment system. The Merchant Customer Exchange has been working on its own mobile payment system to bypass credit card companies. The group’s system, called CurrentC, is in pilot tests in select locations across the country. Plans are for a national roll out in 2015. Besides CVS and Rite Aid other recognizable network members include Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and Target.

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