Drug Retailers Block Apple Pay, Rival Product May Be Introduced

Drug retailers Rite Aid RAD and CVS Caremark CVS will not offer customers the opportunity to pay for purchases with Apple's AAPL mobile wallet system, Apple Pay. According to the New York Times, the move to block out Apple Pay is due to the companies belonging to a consortium of merchants known as Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, who may be developing a rival product called CurrentC, which will not be available until 2015. Apple Pay may face an uphill battle to see its mobile wallet service widely accepted by retailers who will need to tread carefully by balancing business decisions and consumer trends. Gartner reported in 2013 that global mobile transaction volume will see an average of 35 percent annual growth through 2017. Apple Pay has only been available for one week and reports thus far may indicate widespread popularity and acceptance. The first day Apple Pay was introduced, Chase said that seven times more people added their Chase credit cards to Apple Pay than signed up for new credit cards. Other retailers included in the MCX consortium include Best Buy BBY, The Gap GPS and Wal-Mart WMT although it is unclear at this time if these retailers will chose not to accept Apple Pay in the future.