CurrentC, the mobile payment service backed by Best Buy, Target, and Walmart, will commence significant testing in the next few weeks. The tests will be offered to consumers in a handful of stores in the Columbus, Ohio, area. "We are currently in a beta with several of our merchants and employees, and we will now extend that beta to the public in the next few weeks," said MCX CEO Brian Mooney. CurrentC, under development by the Merchant Customer Exchange for several years, generates a scannable code on smartphone screens to initiate mobile payments. It is a rival to services such as Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay. MCX has about 40 merchant partners that operate 110,000 retail locations. MCX signees Best Buy and Rite-Aid recently said their stores will also support the competing Apple Pay service. MCX doesn't expect CurrentC to launch fully until next year. Consumers have been slow to adopt mobile payments. Android Pay and Samsung Pay are set to launch in the weeks and months ahead, and may help spur adoption of the technology.


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