iPhone, Android users unite to boycott anti-Apple Pay retailers

A Redditor really describes this situation better than anyone else could: “an unholy alliance forged in the fires of hate.”

An expletive-laden post (on Reddit, I know, I was surprised too) to the r/Apple subreddit invites its rival r/Android subreddit to join in a boycott against retailers that are disabling near-field communication (NFC) payment terminals.

The bipartisan boycott comes days after pharmacies CVS and RiteAid disabled their stores’ NFC terminals after learning that they were compatible with Google Wallet and the recently released Apple Pay. CVS and RiteAid are both members of a retailer consortium called the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), which reportedly plans to release a competing mobile payment offering, called CurrentC, in early 2015. Since mobile payments systems can only succeed if retail stores support them, MCX companies appear to be attempting to nip the threat of Apple Pay in bud.

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