Apple is taking the path of least resistance here. Merchants are going to be implementing EMV terminals anyhow, all of those will have contactless card functionality which means NFC acceptance will be widespread much more quickly than they get beacons into every merchant.

This is an endorsement for following standards such as NFC, and EMV. The differentiation that Apple brings is that they don't need to work with banks or carriers to have a payment solution that supports these standards as I mentioned here >http://www.bellid.com/resources/blog/apples-iphone-6-nfc-game-changer/

Unlike other handset manufacturers, they've timed this right because the carriers no longer have much of a SIM/SE market to defend thanks to HCE.