So far, what I've heard about CurrentC reminds me of Circuit City's failed attempt to push their proprietary pay-per-view DVD scam.
Like any number of similar schemes, up to and including Microsoft's attempt to force-feed Metro to desktop users, it's all about what the company wants, rather than what the consumer wants. That always works out so well for the company.
> it's all about what the company wants, rather than what the consumer wants.
This is definitely true, but I'm not sure how much it matters.
I, as a consumer, definitely prefer using credit cards because of the protection it affords me, plus I get rewards for what I buy - I never use a debit card to pay for things. I'm also a bit leery of the marketing surveillance state that's cropped up in the US over the past few years, and a scheme like this sets off alarm bells immediately. And I'm sufficiently well off that I'm unlikely to be enticed to try it out just to get some discounts.
But I'm also not a typical consumer. I could see where - if properly and/or luckily done - this might appeal to a not insignificant number of people. If I'm getting a bank account at Walmart, it's likely because I have difficulty getting one somewhere else. Those discounts might seem more attractive to me. Maybe you could argue that's the type of consumer who's also less likely to pay with their phone (or have a phone capable of handling the payments). Dunno, but it seems like even though nobody particularly wants this, it could work because there's a lot of folks who might not dislike it enough to make a difference. DIVX failed because the idea of DVDs that are single use is just a blatant cash grab. It's less obvious here, from the consumer's perspective.
I find it hard to believe that the consumer benefits of CurrentC (pretty much just that it works on phones without NFC) outweigh the PITAness of the system. A Walmart-issued card could be directly linked to a Walmart account and people inside that closed ecosystem that bypassed the credit card companies (saving Walmart that precious 2%) would be easier and safer using a Walmart card than CurrentC, at least as currently described.
It looks to me like a very expensive way for some midlevel executive at Walmart to collect huge bonuses for a few years and then get fired after burning through billions with no appreciable change in the mix of payment systems.
From all the "protection through credit cards" talk (which is a new concept to my German socialization - credit cards have a pretty bad rap here), it seems to me that in the US it's easier to counter risks by adding a middle man (yay, layers of abstractions, all with extra costs) than fixing the root cause.
Because here, we enjoy a reasonably fast, cheap and secure electronic direct debit system since the early 80s (only now replaced by a EU wide system that works pretty much the same) that was built by merchants and banks. Credit cards never managed to seriously make a dent in that market.
Like any number of similar schemes, up to and including Microsoft's attempt to force-feed Metro to desktop users, it's all about what the company wants, rather than what the consumer wants. That always works out so well for the company.