One of the fiercest current battles in the mobile value chain is over m-payments, and once again it seems that the handset giants are beating other stakeholders hands-down. As Apple Pay and Samsung Pay gain ground, mobile operators have largely given up the fight to dominate this sector via NFC, and now retailers are struggling too. Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), a company started by major US retailers including WalMart, has said it will axe 40% of its staff and postpone the launch of its CurrentC m-payments service. CurrentC was announced in the fall of 2014, with WalMart, Target and BestBuy leading the funding of the new firm, MCX. The aim was to seize back control of the growing trend for consumers…