Apple Pay competitor CurrentC may not roll out until 2016

CurrentC, the payments app being created by a consortium of big retailers known as MCX, may not launch widely in 2015 as originally planned, online media outlet Re/code reveals. The company will begin a public pilot of its app in Columbus, Ohio, in a few weeks and will not rush a wider rollout if the product is not ready, MCX CEO Brian Mooney has said.

CurrentC — backed by several dozen big merchants including Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Exxon — is designed to work on all types of smartphones and let shoppers pay with the app instead of a physical payment card or cash. But while Apple Pay and soon-to-launch services Android Pay and Samsung Pay let users pay using account information from traditional credit cards like Visa, MasterCard and Amex, CurrentC does not.

Instead, CurrentC’s beta users can only pay using one of three options: gift cards, a store’s private-label payment card or direct hookups with their checking accounts. Mainstream credit cards carry higher transaction fees than these options, which is a big reason why they aren’t currently part of the offering. Mooney has unveiled CurrentC could add support for mainstream cards in the future, but wouldn’t say when or which ones.