Bitcoin fans, rejoice!
Everybody who thought Apple Pay was a threat to Bitcoin, has a reason to cheer.
Apple finds itself in unfamiliar territory: caught in the middle of a long-simmering conflict between retailers and credit card companies as it angles for consumers' mobile payments dollars. Retailers and credit card companies are betting on two different payment systems, the more popular of which is Apple Pay.
http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-caught-in-the-middle-of-feud-between-merchants-credit-card-companies/Here's bad news for bitcoin users. Why would anybody except an anonymous drug lord use
BTC when they can use CurrentC and get discounts from loyalty programs? Think of your female friends: the ones I know will trade anonymity if they get a discount.
TonyT
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-27/why-rite-aid-and-cvs-stopped-taking-apple-pay#r=read That’s not the whole story. Objections to Apple Pay aren’t actually about convenience, reliability, or security—they are about a burgeoning war between a consortium of merchants, led by Walmart (WMT), and the credit card companies. Rite Aid, CVS, Walmart, Best Buy (BBY), and about 50 other retailers have been working on their own mobile payments system, called CurrentC. Unlike Apple Pay, which works in conjunction with Visa (V), MasterCard (MA), and American Express (AXP), CurrentC cuts out the credit card networks altogether. The benefit to the merchants is clear: They would save the swipe fees they now pay to the credit card companies, which average about 2 percent of the cost of transactions.
VIDEO: Apple Pay Meets Rite Aid, CVS Roadblock
CurrentC is also likely to allow merchants to gather data about transactions and offer discounts and loyalty programs. This stands in marked contrast to the anonymity built into Apple Pay, which has drawn concerns even from some merchants that are actively supporting the system.
