Walmart, Best Buy, Stand Firm Against Apple Pay

Walmart and Best Buy have both said that they will not initially accept Apple Pay transactions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday (Sept. 10). Due to contractual obligations with a competing mobile wallet, MCX (which Walmart founded and still dominates), neither retailer may have much of a choice but to not initially support Apple Pay.

Best Buy “installed NFC-enabled scanners in many of its stores but switched them off in 2011 because the cost of supporting the platform was too high, the company spokesman said. The retailer has no plans to change course following Apple’s announcement,” the Journal said.

The MCX approach “requires only a software download and can be used on existing iPhones and Android devices, whereas Apple’s is only for the latest generation handset,” the story said. The MCX offering, called CurrentC, is slated for a national rollout next year. Supporting the competing Apple Pay before it’s even started its own rollout would seem awkward.

Other mobile payment approaches are also reluctant to embrace this new rival. “Checkout systems from startup Square Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and PayPal aren’t equipped to process NFC payments, meaning potentially millions of mom-and-pop shops, taco trucks and corner stores won’t be accepting Apple Pay when it launches next month. Representatives of the three companies said they had no immediate plans to enable NFC” the Journal reported.