AT&T and Verizon's Mobile Payment Service Isn't Doing So Well

Will the last one please turn out the lights?

Of course, they did have the handicap of having to change their name because of an Islamic Militant Group...

If you want to feel bad for someone, feel bad for this guy: »www.huffingtonpost.com/2 ··· 070.html

Why should they have to change their name? The mudshits are the ones who suck.

The Islamic State wins every time something like this happens.

Personally, I think they should have kept the name.

I actually agree. Not only would it be a boost for freedom of speech and a selling point if they weren't so stupid, but it would enable people to simply state that they hate ISIS/refer to ISIS as a terrorist organization and be correct no matter what they refer to!

ISIS (now SoftCard) should have written the terrorist group and asked them to change their name instead...

I'm guessing the video's of them cutting peoples heads off convinced the CEO's filing a trademark lawsuit against them wouldn't be effective.

Ha! Good one.

Jajajajaja...Classic!

Given the French Charlie thing, keeping the name might have actually been seen as patriotic and made it a success!

And ISIS isn't even the terrorist group's real name. It's just someone's English translation of it. And it could even be argued that ISIL is just as valid a translation.

Nobody screws with Apple or their fanboys. I even changed banks once TD Bank was on board with ApplePay (I refuse to do business with Bank of America and they're the only other bank in the area with ApplePay Debit cards on checking).

If I were to move back to Iowa I would go with Wells Fargo.

ISIS (or SoftCard) failed to gain traction long before Apple Pay was launched....

What does a bank have to do to be onboard? It isn't as simple as adding your card to the app as a funding source?

Negotiate a deal with Apple: »www.theregister.co.uk/20 ··· _says_ft

Too bad those deals between banks and Apple don't include an agreement to block competing mobile payment platforms that do not use NFC or the phone's secure element. If that was the case it would essentially cut off CurrentC as any transactions through CurrentC would be declined essentially rendering CurrentC DOA.

Banks can decline any transaction that fails to meet security standards and CurrentC fails to meet those security standards. That's where Apple's agreement could cut off CurrentC at the source.

I'm not saying decline Google Wallet, I'm saying cut off CurrentC. And CurrentC doesn't give you the consumer protections a credit or debit card does such as chargeback (more difficult on a debit card non existent on CurrentC). But it's much easier to shut down a breached debit card than to close out a breached checking account. Direct Deposits and automatic withdrawals can take several cycles to change over but a breached account must be shut down immediately.

Sorry CurrentC is so walmart and the likes dont have to pay swipe fees. If you add your cc or bank account to currentc it uses QR codes for one time payment. By the way you can add a cc or debit card to currentc.

And how many places has applepay caused the NFC terminals to be turned off. I was quite fine using my google wallet at cvs till apple pissed them off.

And I refuse to use CurrentC and have no problem taking my debit card out of my wallet to pay in protest. And I'm going to push cancel on the pin screen so my debit card goes through the Visa network instead of the cheaper debit network at CurrentC merchants so it will end up costing them more money.

I flat out refuse to use CurrentC. And my fellow Apple Fanboys should join in protest by using their old fashioned debit cards by putting them through as credit instead of debit so it costs the merchant a higher swipe fee. Just push cancel on the pin screen then hit credit.

Do we really want apple of all people to be the big dogs in the digital wallet world?

NO! I personanly don't care about this stuff anyhow. Pain in the butt to pull out my readings glasses to see whats on my small screen smartphone to pay for something. I am old school and I don't need reading glasses to count cash and change! Besides untill you can start a gas pump with a smartphone anyway it's even more useless to me.

Then don't do that. With applepay all you do is put your finger on the home button and tap to the reader. No opening any app, don't even need to wake the screen. Thats why its actually being used.

Yes. I trust them more than Google, Microsoft, the carriers, etc.

Why not?

I just use my credit card and the problem is solved. I had a debit card briefly in the early 1990's when they first came out. I did not like the lack of protections so I had my bank cancel it and give me a straight ATM card. Even now you have no federal protections on debit cards like you have on credit cards. Banks, out of the kindness of their heart, offer you protection but they do not have to and they can drag out fixing your problem as long as they want because your money is already gone. With a credit card, their money is gone, yours is still in your account, and that seems to be a greater incentive for them to pay attention.

I only use the debit card at trusted merchants. And I shop at brick and mortar stores so I have the merchandise in hand when I leave.

Most of the problems with credit/debit card disputes occur when people shop online at questionable merchants and the merchandise never shows or shows up damaged/DOA. Fortunately here in Mass we have a strong consumer protection law that requires merchants to rectify problems with purchases regardless of return policy like warranty of merchantability and warranty of fitness for a particular purpose (like the GoPro camera must function normally in a reasonable amount of time and it must work as advertised). If it doesn't then the retailer must take it back even if the store says no returns or all sales final. The only exception is store liquidations as those are covered under federal bankruptcy law.

Then you won't be real happy with the new chip enabled cards being issued now. Much less protections.

If they are credit cards then I have no issue since federal law is very clear on fraud issues. I like the idea that I can dispute a credit card charge and the money never leaves my account if/until it is resolved. With the debit, that money is already gone. I have seen the grief my sister has had to go through with some debit card issues. She prefers debit because it forces her to manage her spending.

Had nothing to do with Apple pissing them off. Apple Pay processes just like Google Wallet. What happened was an unpopular service (I say this as a Google Wallet user) became popular circumventing the service (CurrentC) that they paid a handy sum to be part of.

There is a significant difference between Apple Pay and Google Wallet:

Google maps your account number to a new debit card account number issued to THEM. Then, every transaction you authorize with Google Wallet is submitted to Google. Google then turns around and submits a transaction to your actual account, through their bank partner (I think it's Citi).

So, Google has a record of every financial transaction you make with Google Wallet. In many (if not all) cases, they actually take a loss on the transaction, because they pay more in merchant fees than they could possibly collect. So, you have to ask yourself: what is Google getting from your transaction that is worthwhile?

From the bank's point of view, transactions through CurrentC are ACH transactions: the same as if you authorize your electric utility or your mortgage company to debit your checking account. CurrentC appears to meet those minimal requirements.There is some protection against ACH fraud, but only for transactions which you are willing to certify that you didn't actually initiate them. You don't get the protections of a credit card for goods or services that aren't delivered as promised.

However, I think CurrentC will die on its own. There's no need for any restrictive agreements, as consumers will quickly figure out that it's a bad deal.

I think the CurrentC merchants will offer a cash discount to get people to use it.

And people will still refuse to use it. Many predict it will be DOA.

Do you think people are going to give their SSN or DL number to an app. People are getting more and more concerned about privacy in an age of data breaches.

I'm getting to the point of starting to refuse to give out my Social Security Number unless it's absolutely required such as banking or credit.

I'm thinking if I move to Maine or back to Iowa I'm thinking of lying and saying I don't have a social security number when establishing service such as cable or utilities but will gladly provide other identifying information such as a state issued driver's license number. I'll just pay a security deposit or fee for refusing.

I'm thinking of only providing a social security number if it is banking related as that is required under the patriot act.

The Social Security Act states that the purpose of a SSN is for the purpose of administering Social Security Benefits. Maybe class action lawsuit against the credit bureaus for using SSNs as personal serial numbers.

Also see: »dealbook.nytimes.com/201 ··· -mobile/

Another poster replied that they have to negotiate a deal with Apple, but it's actually a significant technical undertaking.

Apple Pay is the first implementation of a "tokenization" standard published by the same consortium that created the "chip" cards that are ubiquitous in the rest of the world, and are now just being deployed in the US.

In order for it to work, the issuing bank must make changes to their back-end systems: first to create a "token" (effectively an alias account number) and associate it with your real account number, and then to map that token to your account whenever you use your phone to authorize a transaction. It's worth noting that once you have added your card to Passbook, Apple doesn't participate in any financial transactions. It's done completely through the existing credit card authorization network.

In the US, Apple has negotiated a fee of 15 cents per $100. It comes out of the bank's share of the merchant fee (which is usually about $1.50 per $100).

Your actual account number is never revealed to merchants. The high-profile breaches in the last year or so at Target and Home Depot occurred because someone breached the merchants point-of-sale systems, and captured credit card numbers and authentication info during the short period it was unencrypted.

The alias account number is accompanied by some additional information that is only good for that transaction. It's effectively a cryptographic checksum of various fields: the merchant ID, the amount, and a sequence number unique to the phone. The alias account number is useless without it, so even if someone manages to capture it, it isn't useful for committing any kind of fraud.

The banks are willing to pay for this, because they don't have to eat any fraudulent use, and they don't have to cancel credit cards and issue new ones every time a merchant is compromised. There are a people that had to get their credit cards replaced MULTIPLE TIMES last year, and that's an expensive costs for the banks.

You lost me at "fanboys".

Even Iowa must have something better to offer than Wells Fargo.

I decided to try it last year (before Apple Pay was announced), and I never used it. Not even one time. It only works with a very limited number of cards - only *eligible* American Express, Chase, or Wells Fargo credit cards. I added my Costco Amex, and that was it. Neither of my Chase or Wells Fargo cards worked with it. If they want it to be successful, making it work with more cards would be a good start. Apple Pay is working great for me, and I have no intentions of revisiting Softcard/ISIS.

They finally got some limited WP support late 2014. Only on AT&T to start, only AT&T branded phones (so if you had an international, non-gimped 1520, for example, no soup for you via phone).

When Verizon support rolled out, it was for ONE phone.

This despite WP8 shipping with built in NFC Payment, Wallet, SE SIM support etc from the beginning.

Still nothing for me!

I have it on my HTC One M8 for Windows phone. I signed up for the service, tried it 4 times, then cancelled the service after it worked for only 2 of the 4 transactions. They make it complicated if you don't have a card/bank that is supported "out of the box". I had to sign up for an American Express debit card in order to use the service. I was willing to give it a try, but who wants to fumble around when making any purchase. It just didn't work consistently.

Daaa.

(because that worked out so well for M$).

Never go "Full Mascot"....

I us it everywhere I can I love it.

Why would anyone sign on to a service by either of these 2 companies when there is another option? They go out of their way to screw their customers. I don't know why they're surprised no one wants to use either of them. idiots. Stop screwing people, stop nickle and diming them and maybe you will grow your business.

Google Is In Talks With Softcard
»techcrunch.com/2015/01/1 ··· oftcard/

Maybe that's where softcard will go, with google interested maybe google will up and buy it. Then all the players will get their money back and they can still watch google compete or be investors and watch google do the work.

All I can say is I wish like heck BOTH of these companies would just simply cease to exist!!

2 of the most despicable companies ever.