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Best Buy bites down hard on Apple Pay fruity bonking deal

Mobile payment coming to US stores later this year – but what about CurrentC?

Apple has finally convinced Best Buy – a big retail player in the US – to allow its customers to use Cupertino's mobile payment system.

Best Buy confirmed the deal in a statement, which was released after Apple's latest earnings report.

Stateside customers who carry around iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus handsets can make Apple Pay purchases using the retailer's app, Best Buy said.

It fuzzily promised that all stores across the US would begin accepting Apple Pay "later this year".

The company added: "Consumers have many different ways to spend their money and we want to give our customers as many options as possible in how they pay for goods and services at Best Buy."

However, big retail outfits – represented by the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) – have largely stayed away from Apple Pay so far. It's unsurprising given that MCX has been developing its own mobile payment system, CurrentC.

So Best Buy's decision to sign an agreement with Apple could be significant. Perhaps the deal hints at a shift away from MCX.

In October last year, MCX chief Dekkers Davidson – who, at the time, batted away claims that retailers that used a system other than CurrentC could face a fine – said: "Merchants make their own choices about their commitment to MCX and make their own choices about other forms of payment."

Ain't that the truth... ®

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