[XorNot]

It really doesn't do this. Apple Pay is not the solution to moving money between parties who aren't registered merchants, with the relevant banking setup.

Anyone can be become a merchant with a PayPass reader today. Apple Pay is not changing that, nor can it since that sector is entirely dependent on local commerce/finance laws and payment processor anti-fraud costs.

[ThrustVectoring]

Apple Pay makes developers able to pay merchants on behalf of their customers without becoming a credit card processing middleman.

[panabee]

Apple Pay is focused on easing consumer pain and friction, leading to more competition among service providers and retailers since trying new services will become easier for users.

[XorNot]

Ok now I'm not sure which aspect you're talking about.

Because in the physical world the friction is not "oh I need a card" it's physically getting the customer in the door. Otherwise, what's involved is needing merchants to have NFC readers. This might be an exciting new thing in the US, but certainly in my neck of the woods NFC has near universal penetration.

In the virtual world...this problem has been solved over and over and over. I'd argue it would be very surprising to see Apple displace Paypal. Everyone has Paypal - very few people (relatively) will have ApplePay.

[aianus]

> Everyone has Paypal - very few people (relatively) will have ApplePay.

Today Paypal has something like 150 million users worldwide while there are 72 million iPhone users in the United States alone. Presumably all of these people will eventually upgrade to an iPhone supporting ApplePay.

[XorNot]

That is a big assumption. Phones have been getting a longer and longer tail.

Moreover, there's almost certainly >50% overlap between iPhone user/Paypal user/other service user.

[rtpg]

Having first-class OS support for the payment method (and the fact that a huge amount of people have been forced to register a credit card through iTunes at one point or another) means that the consumer barrier to entry is super low.

[simonh]

> forced to register a credit card through iTunes

I'll never forget the day they held a gun to my head and made me buy my first iPod.

Just so I get the terminology right though, when you register a card within itunes Apple is forcing you to do so, but when you register it with Google Play, Google is reluctantly allowing you to do it. Did I get that right?

[rtpg]

In some countries there have been periods where the only way to make an iTunes account (and thus get access to app store) was through registering a credit card or buying an itunes gift card.

Google Play does not ask for a credit card unless you actually make a purchase.