Best Buy to accept Apple Pay, breaks from MCX lineup

Retailer Best Buy Best Buy said its customers could start using Apple Pay from Monday to make purchases on its app through the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch, thus appearing to break ranks with a group of leading U.S. merchants who are backing an alternative payment system.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also announced during an earnings conference call Monday that Apple Pay would be supported on the Best Buy app and in stores later this year.

The move is significant in that it breaks Best Buy away from the Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, a coalition of merchants backing its own mobile payments platform called CurrentC. MCX members Rite Aid and CVS stopped accepting Apple Pay at their stores a week after the launch of the Apple system, in a move that was seen as reflecting the rivalry between the two payment systems.

Best Buy could not be reached for comment.

Adding on to this, the Merchant Customer Exchange, better known by its acronym MCX, announced on Tuesday that it has named payments expert Brian V. Mooney as interim CEO, replacing former chief executive Dekkers Davidson.

Mooney most recently served as CEO and board member of Bank of America Merchant Services.

The change comes at a time when MCX is moving closer to launching its CurrentC app to allow for mobile payments later this year. Major retailers such as The Gap and Walmart have signed on, although MCX and CurrentC will face competition from Apple Pay.

Via Macworld and