In reply to disqus_MmC45ETN62.

The article is entirely relevant. If you are comparing Apple Pay to contactless EMV (which is the appropriate comparison) then it offers merchants no additional security benefits as the card never passes unencrypted though the merchant systems.
The bottom line here is that Apple and the banks simplified a process in order to ease adoption and get as many cardholders enrolled as possible. They are now paying for it. The good news is that I am sure Apple is just writing checks to cover losses and the banks are not actually out anything.
Again this is yet another bad omen for Apple trying to open up new markets though,