In reply to Philip Cohen.

“It’s still up to the banks to accept Apple’s terms.”

This would have been a better point before AP began. Then you would have raised a legitimate question: will the banks bite?

Yes, the issuing banks/credit card companies do not have to accept Apple Pay. They do not have to authorize the per-bank interface that Apple Pay requires. And they certainly do not have to pay Apple a cut of the interchange. But the fact is that, after a month, ninety percent of the banking industry (by dollar gross) has chosen to do just that.

The argument, “Apple Pay needs the banks, the banks don't need Apple Pay” does not fly when the banks have already chosen to interconnect with, to pay, and to advertise Apple. Contrast Wallet, in which Google, for non-banking reasons of its own, operates a business that receives no fee from the merchant, card company or bank (or Wallet customer), but rather has to “pay to play.” It eats one of two interchange fees on each transaction. (With industry support, there would of course be only one fee, eaten by the merchant, as for a normal card, swiped or contactless—or for CurrentC, for that matter.)