Seems like CurrentC have a great product on their hands. Effectively they are cutting out the middle man and tying in a rewards program, not groundbreaking, but still a better deal than Apple's offering. If all else fails for them in the payments space, they have a great name that would allow them to pivot into the bottled juice market as well.
The fact this thing has not even launched fully just yet, worries me they have already been hacked. Just wait until CurrentC is rolled out to more vendors and adoption increases (if it happens), it will just make them a bigger target. To some of those vendors supporting CurrentC, I bet Apple Payments is looking more appealing right about now.
Pretty rookie error, lets hope they get their act together before a more widespread launch.
A "great product" from the perspective of a merchant who wants to not pay credit card processing fees. Not a great product from the other side of the transaction.
A great product for retailers perhaps (track the hell out of you customers and stop paying fees!), but that's only one side of the coin. T
he other side is who controls all the money and a less fast and less secure way to pay for things so that you have the privilege of being marketed to is not exactly "great product" territory.
There is a decent chance that CurrentC will fail before it ever launches.
how is this a good product? It's essentially making the payment workflow even more complicated for users. NFC or chip+pin is the way to go, as it's more user-friendly.
I actually like the idea of cutting out the middle man and tying in a rewards program. It is not a new idea as it follows reward incentive programs that everyone from airlines to retail stores have had for years. While we can not be sure that the saved credit card fees will not be pocketed, if they are not, then CurrentC could become something great.
The premise itself I am a fan of. Using QR codes however, not so much. The infrastructure can be changed though, if QR codes become too cumbersome, they have the power to change it.
I was being partially sarcastic in my initial comment, but partially serious.
Based on the fact that it will save merchants the credit card processing fee. They'll most likely pocket the difference instead of passing along the savings to the consumer, especially since there's no risk that their competitors will pass along the savings.
The fact this thing has not even launched fully just yet, worries me they have already been hacked. Just wait until CurrentC is rolled out to more vendors and adoption increases (if it happens), it will just make them a bigger target. To some of those vendors supporting CurrentC, I bet Apple Payments is looking more appealing right about now.
Pretty rookie error, lets hope they get their act together before a more widespread launch.