This conversation seems to have gotten off track the instant
Apple Pay (AP) was announced. AP is just one piece of a much larger puzzle -
and the excitement over AP is justified, not because it's Apple and it will
solve all the problems, but because until iPhone 6/6+ was released with an NFC
chip, Apple really wasn't on board the mobile payments train. They're no longer
an obstacle, so the train has a much better chance of leaving the station.

Now the story is really about NFC vs. non-NFC solutions. The
NFC crowd includes BOTH Apple & Google, not to mention SoftCard and other,
lesser-known NFC-based solutions. So when CVS & Rite Aid turned off NFC at
their POS they denied users many payment options . . . not just Apple Pay. They
also deny contactless payments through chip-equipped cards, fitting
MCX/CurrentC members' desire to cut out fees associated with Visa, MasterCard
and the issuing banks as well as other pieces of the current system.

Of course, the MCX v NFC battle is just the latest, most
visible stage in the progress toward mobile payments. For the time being, it'd
be gratifying to read reporting that, while acknowledging the attention that
Apple brings to the issue, centers on the real question; in this case, which
technology will emerge as the standard for mobile payments . . .

· NFC
· a fully software/cloud-based solution
· a hybrid of the two
· something else entirely

How long it will take to see this standard emerge?

Where will it (the mobile payment tech standard) surface
first - or has it already?