Wal-Mart, along with a bunch of its fellow merchants, is about to make a serious entrance into the mobile-payments scene. In concert with more than a dozen other companies, the retail giant pulled open the curtain this week on a the "Merchant Consumer Exchange," or MCX. Aside from offering merchants the chance to take control of how money will flow through their stores in the future, the MCX also presents a clear threat to Google's "Google Wallet" initiative. And with mobile payments expected to more than triple to $600 billion by 2016, it's a safe bet that the competition is only getting started.
Are you on the lookout for the next big tech up-and-comer? Check out our free video report: "3 Stocks to Own for the New Industrial Revolution." To find out about the technology that could disrupt the "Made in China" era, simply click here.