The key passage from that Barrons piece Moonray posted is probably this:
The impact of Apple’s entry will be “relatively benign” for Visa and Mastercard, he writes. The two “should benefit from the strong endorsement of their NFC-based tap-and-pay technology, and we doubt Apple has been able to negotiate a revenue share.”
It's probably true that the iWallet service will be nothing more than pass-through credit card charges at launch, but over time, maybe Apple will start to offer better incentives if you fund your iTunes account with a monthly direct bank withdrawal. I do that with Paypal now-- used to be that every charge went through my credit card, but lately, they have been wearing down my resistance. Obviously, PayPal keeps the transaction fee from the merchant for cash transactions, as would Apple, I would think, disintermediating the credit card companies over time. |
