When Apple Pay came out I was astonished. It's a brilliant move to act as a middleman between a device that almost everyone possesses and currency. After all, what is more profitable than a financial institution?

    It seems to be that squeezing between iPhone owners and everyday 
    purchases would be very lucrative

And something that Banks will very strongly oppose. How many places can you use Apple Pay right now? I love Android Pay, but the only store I can use it at is Walgreens -- no where else I go takes it. Banks still hold a huge amount of power at the point-of-sale market, and they will not give up their margins to Apple.

US here… my pharmacy, grocery, gasoline station, and computer hardware store all take it. It's not like I spend money anywhere else. (Also three of those four have negligently compromised my credit card numbers in the past, so I appreciate giving them as little data as possible.)

Only one restaurant I go to takes it, the one that has little terminals at each table. I'm not sure how the mechanics will play out for restaurant payment. Personally I don't like the table terminal, but maybe someone will come up with a bill carrier that can take payment.

Here in Canada, we have mobile debit/credit terminals that the waitstaff bring to the tables. They currently support swipe, chip & pin, and tap, so I assume that they'd support Apple Pay without too much trouble.

This is different in the rest of the world that has NFC card terminals rather than mag stripe, and it will change in the US as the new EMV readers roll out.

I was at a small bookstore in Palo Alto and they accepted Apple Pay without even knowing it themselves. It really depends on the retailer and if they upgraded their POS terminals.

That being said I use it at trader joes and sprouts, and when Starbucks finishes rolling out Apple Pay I'll use it there too.

It's just very convenient and fast. It makes chip and pin cards seem like five steps backwards.

Doesn't Apple Pay work anywhere standard NFC (PayWave etc) works? AFAIK retailers don't have to do anything special to work with Apple Pay aside from have a POS with NFC support.

WePay is taken just about everywhere now, even at mom and pop drink stands. It isn't as impossible as one thinks it is, but maybe not in the states.

Can Apple become a bank?

They can buy any +/- any bank

I think it's more cost effective to start a new bank.

But why would they. It's a lot of trouble, and being a bank gives you the right to lend in money from the public.

It's still possible to provide payment services without being a bank.

I think they could more or less buy VISA and pay in cash, and that makes more sense if you want to make money on retail payments.

I am not advocating that Apple needs to buy a bank, just noting that they have resources to buy pretty much any bank.

If it becomes successful it has potential to dwarf the historical growth in smartphones. But the question is if other players in the field can prevent Apple from getting traction to enough extent.