“QR code-based payments have their benefits like tying debit and credit card transactions to store reward cards and saving receipts in one step, but they still don’t beat the convenience of NFC-based methods like Apple Pay which are less finicky and more secure,” Zac Hall reports for 9to5Mac.
“Major retailer Walmart, however, is pushing forward with its plans to make checking out smarter using its own QR code-based system called Walmart Pay,” Hall reports. “And although the two systems could both be options, Walmart continues to resist other digital wallets including Apple Pay.”
“Pay on iPhones means just waving the device over the checkout terminal,” Hall reports. “Walmart Pay, by comparison, requires having the Walmart iOS app installed, then finding and launching it at the checkout line before scanning a barcode on a terminal with the camera.”
Read more in the full article here.
“Walmart was part of a retailer group in late 2014 that initially opposed Apple Pay and backed CurrentC,” Jan Mason reports for AppleInsider. “Walmart Pay’s usage is limited to just Walmart stores [currently only in Texas and Arkansas].”
Mason reports, “With extra steps and less encryption, offers a slower and less secure experience than Apple Pay.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This antiquated mess (QR codes, seriously?) is nothing but a warmed-over, rebadged CurrentC and just as DOA.
SEE ALSO:
MCX postpones rollout of CurrentC mobile payment system, lays off 30 – May 16, 2016
Why Apple Pay beats chip cards – May 9, 2016
MCX’s CurrentC may not launch until next year – August 12, 2015
CurrentC-backer Rite-Aid capitulates, to accept Apple Pay at 4,600 U.S. stores starting this Saturday – August 11, 2015
Apple Pay rival ‘CurrentC’ to get limited trial run in stores next month – July 24, 2015
Apple Pay stands to gain from MCX’s CurrentC disarray – May 18, 2015
Apple Pay is destroying MCX’s CurrentC – May 11, 2015
Best Buy capitulates, to accept Apple Pay despite CurrentC allegiance – April 27, 2015
Major retailers see Apple Pay wave – November 17, 2014
In only 3 weeks, Apple Pay is changing how consumers pay – November 17, 2014
Boycott CVS and Rite Aid – October 27, 2014
Bad business: CVS and Rite Aid antagonize their most well-heeled customers by blocking Apple Pay – October 27, 2014
CVS stores reportedly disabling NFC to shut down Apple Pay – October 25, 2014
iPhone users earn significantly more than those who settle for Android phones – October 8, 2014
Yet more proof that Android is for poor people – June 27, 2014
More proof that Android is for poor people – May 13, 2014
Apple’s iOS dominates in richer countries, Android in poorer regions – March 25, 2014
Twitter heat map shows iPhone use by the affluent, Android by the poor – June 20, 2013
iPhone users smarter, richer than Android phone users – August 16, 2011
Yankee Group: Apple iPhone owners shop more, buy more, remain more loyal vs. other device users – July 20, 2010
Walmart earnings & stock is down and Walmart is implementing slower, less secure WM Pay.
Can you say “downsizing of the dinosaur?”
The system they backed was poorly named.
It should’ve been called LegaC.
I sold all my Walmart stock and bought more Apple stock.
Use loose either way. Lol
So many good reasons not to shop at Walmart.
Here’s another one.
Walmart will go the way of Sears. #1 retailer in the 80’s to near bankrupt 30 years later. Surprised it took this long. When K-mart acquired Sears you know it had to be over!
So a smart criminal gets his hands on other people’s QR code and takes a photo of it.
Then go to Walmart with the photo already on screen.
Would this work?
Unless the WartMart app is setup to provide a new QR code with each transaction (which is currently a standard of QR code security), then you are correct. I’m not going to bother to look up whether this is the case. But this should be clear in the app’s description and support documentation.
That’s not how it works… the credit card terminal displays a QR code and you scan that code using the Walmart app…
The app then pairs that code with your transaction and sends the money
Thank you! That’s different from what I expected. In that case each QR code would be different. Therefore, stealing the terminal’s QR code would be a waste of time.
No. The checkout terminal generates a QR code that represents the transaction. The user scans it and the app, which is linked to your checking account,made its the money. If someone else wants to pay for your QR coded transaction, let ’em! The whole thing is a kludge at best.
Yeah. Like I’m going to give Walmart direct access to my accounts! When hell freezes over!
Another reason Walmart is not the place to shop.
Luddites? Tech illiterates? A persistent PITA because they’re a behemoth of the retail industry?
I personally don’t care as I never have and never will shop at that hell hole of American demise and abuse.
Meanwhile, WartMart may well suffer badly for not joining the future:
Illinois senator concerned about chip card rollout, asks FTC for oversight
Sen. Dick Durbin says “months have been wasted” in helping retailers adjust.
Card networks agreed to transition the US from using magnetic stripe credit and debit cards to using chip-based cards years ago. With the backing of the US government, the card networks decided that by October 2015, all retailers in the US would have to have new terminal hardware to accept chip cards or face liability when fraud occurred on outdated machines….
Retail businesses face big new hack liability
Part of the new EMV card reader machine protocol moves fraud liability away from banks and to retailers and merchants. Failure to upgrade to the new system, for which the initial deadline has already passed, doesn’t carry any specific punishment with it — unless the business owner is victim of a hack….
Huguelet said many insurance policies available to small businesses and franchisees may not cover fraud or losses if the policyholder is deemed to have contributed to the incident by not making industry-mandated upgrades to payment card readers.
Have fun WartMart.
Good luck getting a refund from Walmart if their system is hacked and your money is stolen! You’ll get your money back on the 12th of Never.
The liability is between the credit card company and the retailer (here, Walmart). The credit card companies are saying that, when they put the money backing your account, they will deduct that money from Walmart’s account. And, this is in the contract they have with retailers like Walmart that has to be agreed to in order to accept those credit card.
So, the retailers have a choice: upgrade to support chip cards, or the money lost in any fraudulent transaction is taken out of the retailer’s account.
I predict it is only a matter of time before WalMart caves.
the only complaint I have with using Apple Pay is I still have to pull out my wallet in order to give the retailer my Air Miles or other points card.
If you shop at Ghetto Mart, use cash and Apple Pay, oh wait, just cash. Now they lock up all cosmetics, including, get this. Face and body cream. So you have to search for 10 minutes, then they have to figure out who has the key, by that time you’ve wasted 1/2 hour just getting it, then have to wait behind idiot cashier that are slower than molasses. At least the cheese balls aren’t locked up. Yet. Just shoot me already.