ISIS, Google Wallet and PayPal beware: a fourth competitor has entered the mobile payment ring.
Target and Wal-Mart are among roughly two dozen retailers planning to roll out a new mobile payment system that directly competes with each of those three payments heavyweights, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Little is known about the retailer’s plan beyond the fact that it is happening. Both the full roster of participants and the technology to be utilized by the retailers remains unclear.
An official statement from Target confirms that the company is “exploring potential solutions.”
“We’ve seen this show before,” says MPD Founder and Paying with Plastic author David Evans. “And it never has a happy ending since merchants groups are about as good at running payments as payment networks are at selling underwear. It is also hard for retailers to get enough critical mass and even the couple of dozen mentioned here isn’t nearly big enough.”
